Burning Blood Academy Days
by Lux-Nero
Summary: Duel Academia - A place where many come to study the fine art of dueling, a place where friendships, rivalries and memories are made that can last a life time. So, let's take that and make it even crazier! Let's do this with hot blooded style!
1. Chapter 1

**Lux-Nero:** _After a year of working and soul searching, I have returned, and I have returned to my older roots: Back to when I was Roleplaying on an old site where I met a lot of people I'm still friends with today._

_Unfortunately, there's barely even a record of these good times I used to have save for a wiki that hasn't been touched in years. _

_So, I thought to myself, 'You know what? There was an awesome story here!', and now I wanna share that story with you – Admittedly, I wasn't the one who was coming up with events and such, but I've got a decent track record with stories, so let's see how this works!_

_But before we begin, I have to things to note:_

_In early 2010, I lost a real good friend who I met in those RPGs on those forums. He was a good person with a real talent in creativity. In memory of him, I will use his character to the best of my ability – Danny Lilithborne/JuJube, this is for you man! I hope you're in a better place_

_Another character who will be a prominent figure in this is actually a creation of another author, and a guy who has act as a Beta for some of my other stories. Scarlet Weather, if you're reading this, and I know you are, thanks for letting me use this hot blooded duelist, and I hope I write him with justice._

**Naturally, when one makes progressive steps, there may be some who see it as a betrayal of their goals and interests.**

** -) Louis Farrakhan**

_**Duel Monsters – A game that has evolved over the many years it was created. From the days of simple summoning to the days of Synchro Summoning and then Xyz Summoning: The game has turned from a simple past time, to a way of life, to a way to provide a new form of energy to the world, or as many have tried to do so in the past – Use the game to, you guessed it, take over the world.**_

_**Of course.**_

_**As the game evolved, so did the world. **_

_**Duel Academia was once considered a joke, nothing more than a ploy by the Kaiba Corporation to generate more money for them. However, as proven by the case of one Yuki Juudai – The world needs strong duelists. Not just for entertainment value, but also to face off against beings such as Darkness, the Earthbound Immortals and even more maniacs who found a way to take over the world.**_

_**Yuki Juudai… A young man who many decades ago brought honor and respect to the once disregarded Osiris Red dormitory. Those who wore red back then were considered nothing more than trash, but are now a symbol of determination to rise above and beyond those in the other dorms. Osiris Red is the burning blood of the academy, the home of those who have untapped talent.**_

_**Ra Yellow – The middle ground. Those who are recognized for a wealth of knowledge of Duel Monsters, both on and off the field. Thought Osiris Red isn't the bottom of the barrel by the vast majority, there still is animosity towards those in red. Only now it is the Ra Yellow, rather than the Obelisk elitists. Some of the Ra Yellow believe that they're rank as second best dorm is on the verge of being passed over to the Osiris. Because of this animosity, there is a constant bickering between the two dorms.**_

_**Obelisk Blue – The kings of the Academy, held in the highest honor. Since previous Chancellor Samejima stepped down from his position, his replacement made sure that parents with deep pockets could no longer pay their children's way into the prestigious dorm. A spot in the Obelisk Blue dorm means that you're the cream of the crop – One ready for the pro league. However, those in blue now have become twice as arrogant, now that everyone in the elite group can actually back themselves up. **_

_**There were other changes made to Duel Academia Island, other than the caste system. The female Obelisk Blue dorm was remodeled, breaking down the all-girl roster and dividing them into each of the three existing dorms according to the level of skill and knowledge. More student services and businesses were set up on the island, so that students could enjoy more social activities or even acquire a job to work at. The old forbidden dorm was taken down and destroyed, the new Osiris Red Dorm erected in its place.**_

_**Although time changes people, locations and game mechanics, some things never change – The difficulties that many students face remain: Rumors, rivalries, exams and even the occasional evil organization that has world domination in mind.**_

_**This is the story of three students who face those challenges – Will they survive? Or will they kill each other before the first bell even rings?**_

**TTT – TTT**

**Burning Blood Academy Days**

**A Fanfiction by **

**Lux-Nero**

**TTT – TTT**

**Draw 1**

**Battle x 2**

**TTT – TTT **

In a rather large, and admittedly empty office, two people stood in front of the large window: One was a rather stoic and thin man dressed in a blue overcoat, his arms crossed behind his back as his sharp eyes looked out the window. "… So, the newest crop is on the way, right?"

The other was a finely dressed younger woman dressed in a red version of the man's uniform, who bowed slightly to allow her long black hair to spill over her shoulders. "Yes Chancellor, they're on the ship as we speak."

The chancellor didn't say a word as he turned his head around slightly and smirked slightly, "Well then, any potential in the group this year?"

"We won't know until they arrive, sir," The attendant replied as she looked at the clipboard. "Although, if you want the perspectives on the dorms, eight percent of the applied applicants managed to get into Obelisk blue, nineteen percent in Ra Yellow, and twenty-four percent of the applicants are in Osiris Red – Unfortunately, forty-nine percent of the applicants weren't accepted this year."

The chancellor narrowed his eyes, "… More applicants who couldn't pass – This is getting worse every year. How many applicants applied this year?"

"Less than last year," the attendant answered harshly.

A sigh escaped from the chancellor's mouth as he turned towards the desk of the room and lifted up a newspaper that was dated a year ago. '_That's no surprise – With Riding Dueling and VR dueling becoming more popular by the day, Duel Academia is starting to fade into the past…_

'_I guess I'll have to do something about this, perhaps it's time that I take a page out of my predecessor's book.'_

"Sir," The attendant called out to the chancellor. "We may need to request some aid from Kaiba Corp, if this continues then we'll…"

The chancellor lifted his hand up slightly to silence the attendant, "Perhaps that's the best, after the first day is over with, I'll make a call to Kaiba Corp with some ideas for approval. For now, you can take the rest of the day off."

The attendant bowed slightly before she walked off.

The moment that the doors to his office closed, the Chancellor sat down in his office chair and looked at the title of the newspaper: **"Scandal at Duel Academia…"**

He couldn't even stand the sight of the paper, so the chancellor crumpled up the paper and tossed it across the room. '_If it wasn't for my heart, I'd handle this problem myself – If it comes to this, then I'll have no choice but to take matters into my own hands.'_

The chancellor reached into the top drawer of his desk and pulled out a deck of cards, '_I took this job so I could be close to the thing I poured so many years into, a game that I loved, a game that I can't play without repercussions – So, at least I can train the next generation. _

'_And who knows what this year will bring… And maybe these new students will be the shining stars that'll light the way for the future…'_

**TTT – TTT **

There were only two ways to get to Duel Academia Island – By flight or by sea. In order for a number of students to get to the island, a large luxury liner was often used to have the students brought to the island. It wasn't as fast as flying, for sure, but it only took a day for the ship to arrive at the docks of DA.

During the time that the students were on the boat, it would allow the students to converse with each other and socialize. As a rule of thumb, the students were not given their dorm assignments until they reached the island, which allowed friendships to be made between the dorms.

And most locations on the ship were available to the passengers – The café, the dueling arena below deck, the pool, the various rooms on the ship that the students were assigned to…

"I'M GONNA BE KING!"

However, the top of the ship was another matter.

"GET THAT IDIOT DOWN FROM THERE!"

Atop of the cruise ship's control room stood a certain young man, a very short young man with wild red hair that billowed in the salty air, with his tanned skin blended nicely with the crimson/orange sky behind him. His blue school uniform billowed about as he continued to yell, at his wrists were a pair of bands that each had a dice imprint on them, "LOOK OUT DUEL ACADMIA! YOUR KING WILL BE LANDING SOON!"

The fiery youth didn't seem to notice that there was a large amount of the crew that were yelling at him to get down from the top – But he seemed to ignore them as he watched the water in the distance, hoping to see the island in the distance. A large toothy grin (with a slight fang-like shape to one of them) was on his face as he adjusted the sunglasses he had, "I can already tell, this is gonna be worth it!"

While the wild red head was being pulled against his will from the top of the control room, at the same time something different was going on in the entertainment center of the ship – a number of students were in the midst of watching a black and white movie: a certain Romero film that had a number of the viewers shiver in their seats as the undead army on the screen broke into the house in the silver screen…

"Heh! Yeah! Rip his guts out!"

But the white haired youth who sat in the front row couldn't help but grin brightly before he stuffed some popcorn into his mouth. The image on the silver screen reflected off against his large coke-bottle glasses that covered his eyes completely (how he was able to see through them was a mystery). His long, black uniform was extremely baggy on his thin frame and had a few cuts on it.

While most of the other patrons who were watching the movie were either disgusted with the gore or had turned their eyes away from the screen, this young man just seemed to laugh loudly each time a new victim was added onto the list that appeared in the movie.

Odd thing was, this movie wasn't scheduled to play on this trip.

'_Nothing like a little breaking and entering to watch a classic,'_ The teen thought to himself as he reached into the popcorn bucket that he had pilfered from one of the patrons who had turned away from the gore.

… Is there one character on this boat who isn't insane or acts like a criminal?

"Madam, here's your meal."

"Thank you, garcon."

Inside the café portion of the ship, a waiter placed a rather light salad on the table where a young lass was seated at. While the waiter walked away, the young lass lowered the book she was reading to the long blue dress-skirt she wore. As she looked at the salad, she pulled pushed the long, honey blonde hair from the front of her small-rimmed glasses.

The young lass lifted her hands and clasped them together with her eyes closed. After a few moments she unfolded her hands and looked at the small meal before her, "Thank you for this meal…"

As she reached for her utensils…

"DUEL!"

The young lass turned her head to the side and saw that a few tables over, a pair of young men were playing a tabletop duel. The lass sighed under her breath as she pushed up her glasses, "Ad maiorem Dei gloriam…"

She then turned her eyes to gold deck case that she had strapped around her waist. "Sed et si ambulavero in valle mortis, non timebo malum quoniam…"

**TTT – TTT **

While the students and passengers were enjoying meals, pilfering popcorn or being restrained by the crew, a dark coated figure walked amongst the crates in the cargo hold – a handheld computer in his gloved hands. The man sighed, his voice slightly muffled, as he pressed a few buttons on the device. "Not too many good prospects here… This was almost a waste of time."

The figure fitted the handheld computer into his pocket and pulled out a cell phone. After putting in a few numbers, the figure lifted it up to his ears. "… Yeah, it's me. I got good news and bad news, what do you want first?"

"…"

"Not my fault there's bad news! You knew that after last year, this year's crop wouldn't be like last year's – If you weren't so showy, then we wouldn't be having this issue!"

The figure rolled his eyes behind the yellow lenses of his mask, "You know that things like this take time: Not everyone is gonna be ripe for the picking at this time, we got lucky last year…

"What? Oh, I got about two or three big targets among a bunch of potential – These ones that I'm getting a signal on might be worth our time…

"Wait, don't target one? What do you mean?"

The masked man sighed as he listened in on the phone. "Alright, alright, I got it. So, should I do the usual?"

When he got the answer, the man chuckled to himself. "Good…"

**TTT – TTT **

"Meh, popcorn isn't filling at all…"

After the movie had ended, the white haired freak of a young man had left the small theater and was making his way to the café on the ship. '_Hope they got something that's half-way decent: Has to better than the food of the last place I was at…'_

"And for the last time, you can't do that!"

The white haired youth turned his head to see that the red haired young man being dragged off by a number of the crew. The tanned skinned youth thrashed about, "You can't stifle my spirit! I'll roar to the heavens themselves that I'll be the best around! Soon Duel Academia will know the name Shishio Kaito!"

The white haired youth adjusted his glasses as he watched the group of sailors drag the rambunctious Kaito through the halls past him. '_I knew saner guys back at the last place…'_

"SIR! I'M LOSING MY GRIP!"

"HE'S ESCAPING!"

The white haired youth turned around just in time to see Kaito run right into him, the force was enough to make them both fall to the floor in a crumpled mess. "GAGH!"

"Whoops! Sorry man!"

"GET OFF OF ME, YA FREAK!"

"Excuse me, but I'm not the one with white hair."

"No, you're just the idiot who was being restrained by SAILORS!"

The crew watched as all of a sudden the two young passengers got to their feet and began arguing amongst each other. The crew shrugged at the sight and walked off to get back to their work.

Kaito threw his arms behind his head and smirked wildly, "Heh! How interesting!"

The white haired youth tilted his head slightly, "Huh? What the hell are you going on about?"

"Can't you tell?" Kaito questioned as he leaned slightly towards the white haired youth. "You got that fiery spirit – That passion necessary to be a great duelist! I can hear it in your voice!"

"… You're an idiot," the white haired teen scoffed as he shook his head. Not wanting to deal with this red haired idiot, the young man slowly walked past Kaito…

"Now hold on a sec!" Kaito latched onto the white haired teen's shoulder and forced him to face him. "How about a duel?"

"… Excuse me?"

"Yeah! You versus me! The roaring lion of the islands!" Kaito laughed loudly as he pumped his fist towards the white haired delinquent. "Kaito versus… Versus… Uh, who are you again?"

"I never gave my name, you moron," the white haired delinquent growled as he pushed up his glasses. "And frankly, I get the feeling that I'd get nothing but a headache from you if I gave you my name."

"Well, I suppose I could call you punk," Kaito began to list off names with his hands held up in front of him. "Emo, dark, Snowy, Specs…"

"Fine! FINE!" the white haired delinquent snarled back. "Faust, that's what most people call me."

Kaito tilted his head slightly and smiled, "Hmm… Are you sure it isn't emo?"

Faust gritted his teeth, "You're the one who asked for my name! And I gave it to ya! So don't get on my case!"

"Alright, alright," Kaito chuckled as he waved his hands in front of his face defensively. "There's no need to be like that – Save that hot blood ya got for the dueling field! So grab your disk and your cards: Let's have a fight for the ages!"

"Not interested," Faust replied with a cocky grin. "I doubt you'd be worth the trouble for a single draw."

"Well, there's only one way to find out for sure!" Kaito stated as he pointed a finger at Faust's face. "I challenge you to a duel!"

"Do I really need to repeat myself?" Faust sighed, his fingers pushed up his glasses. "Dueling you is a waste of time, and speaking of waists, mine is in need of something halfway decent to eat."

And like that, Faust casually walked away from a rather dumbfounded Kaito, but that dumbfounded feeling melted away at Kaito's wild grin, "Alright! You get something to eat – And then we'll duel!"

If his eyes were visible behind his large glasses, Faust would've rolled them.

As the two young duelists trekked through the halls of the ship, neither of them noticed that from the shadows behind them that a tall, masked figure stepped into the halls and watched them from a distance.

The masked figure lifted his right hand up and snapped his fingers, "Time for some fun…"

From where he stood, the color of the ship began to drain away, leaving everything in a monotone coloring.

**TTT – TTT **

Faust was annoyed.

Not just because he was hungry, but for the fact that he had a shadow that kept bugging him to get his duel disk out and face him in a match. Even when he reached the café…

"So, after you get something to eat, we'll throw down!"

It was enough to make Faust twitch his brow uncontrollably. And as he placed a hand on the doors to the café, Faust turned back to the red haired teen behind him, "FINE! After I eat, I'll trounce you on the dueling field, happy?!"

Kaito smiled brightly as Faust opened the door to the café. "Excellent!"

Faust sighed loudly before he walked into the café, his gaze slightly lowered. '_Maybe I can ditch this loser after I get something to eat and…'_

"Oi, Faust," Kaito stated as he stepped into the café ahead of Faust. "Is this supposed to be this gray and dreary?"

Faust was tempted to speak up or run away from this crazy guy, but then his eyes fell upon the café itself – Everything from the tables, to the rug, to the walls was completely devoid of color, nothing more than black and white. This in and of itself was a little odd and unnerving, but what was worse was that the grayscale seemed to even affect everyone in the room as well: They were practical statues, froze in various poses.

"The hell?" Faust questioned as he stepped further into the café. "Is this some sort of sick joke or something? How is this even possible?"

"Kinda freaky, wouldn't ya say?" Kaito muttered as he tapped his hand against one of the frozen person's shoulders. "Hey, you okay?"

Faust rubbed the back of his head, his white hair slipped through his fingers, '_This reminds me of a B-list horror movie I once saw – And if I recall, those who weren't trapped in this time freeze had to deal with something nasty and…'_

The white haired delinquent pushed up his glasses and looked around the café before he barred his teeth, "… Crap…"

"Huh? You say something, emo?" Kaito questioned, having swiped a sandwich from a nearby table.

"Look idiot, I'm getting out of here," Faust replied with a wave of his hand. "And I suggest that you do the same…"

"And where would the two of you go?"

Both Kaito and Faust stopped in their tracks as that voice sounded out through the café.

"If it is like this here, then what about the rest of the ship? What about the world? You can't escape from this ship, it's in the middle of the ocean…"

It was then that a faded form slipped from the floor, and was lifted up into the air with its arms held out. The figure looked to be a very tall man dressed in a large, black trench coat that covered his entire form save for his head, which had spiked, sandy blonde hair with his face hidden behind a large gas mask that had two yellow lenses at his eyes.

And strapped to his left arm was a black duel disk.

The man landed atop of a large table and crossed his arms. "I hope you two have enjoyed your trip on the Pacific, because now, it' about time for you to enjoy a trip on the River Styx."

Faust and Kaito looked at each other, and then at the masked. Kaito shrugged and rolled his eyes, "Man, I can't stand that romanticized stuff… Nice entrance though."

"Yeah, yeah, nice smoke and mirrors trick," Faust growled as his gaze turned towards the gas masked individual. "But frankly, I'm not in the mood for a song and dance today, so how about you get on with your shtick and we can get on with this so I can have a freakin' decent meal?!"

The masked man sighed as he shook his head, "While I am on a time table myself and can appreciate your situation, I myself have a job. For now, you can call me Styx, and I'm going to give you two a simple choice."

Styx lifted up his hand and extended one finger, "Option one, you two can come quietly with me without any fuss."

The second finger lifted up, "Option dos, I knock you both over the head with my duel disk and drag your unconscious forms to where I need to go…"

Styx lowered his hand and lifted his duel disk up, "Or, option san, you can duel me…"

Faust lifted his arms up and then dropped them with a loud, exasperated sigh. "For the love of… A duel!? You can bend space and time to your will, and you use it to challenge us to a duel!?"

"Exactly," Styx answered as he tilted his head and reached into his overcoat. When he pulled his hand out, Styx held up two duel disks that he tossed to the ground at the two duelists' feet. "You may think this as simplistic, but a duel is what I need to do in order to gauge you two, and attached to this duel is a simple wager: You win, congrats, and you get to get off scot free…

"Lose, and you two come with me with no hassle."

Faust looked at the duel disk on his feet and began to reel his foot back when…

"YOU'RE ON!"

Faust's glasses nearly slipped from his face. The white haired duelist looked to see that Kaito already had donned the duel disk and was fitting his deck into the slot. All the while, Kaito had a large smirk on his face, "I've been itching for a duel all day! So, you wanna duel the two of us? How do you wanna do this? Two on one? Or do you want to duel us one after another?"

"Negative, this will be a free for all duel," Styx stated as his duel disk hummed to life. "That means all three of us duel against each other – But if I'm defeated, then that'll be when the duel ends."

"And I'm guessing saying 'no' is a no go," Faust stated as he crouched down and picked up the duel disk. '_It's obvious what his plan is – He's probably running a deck that specializes in fighting against multiple opponents…And we're walking right into it…'_

"Indeed," Styx replied as he pumped an arm up into the air. "If you don't wanna duel, then you can leave your fate in the hands of the wild boy here, Mr. Emo."

Behind his glasses, Faust narrowed his eyes. "Like hell I'll leave my fate in this idiot's hands."

"Heh, prepare yourself!" Kaito roared as he activated his duel disk. "I'm gonna blow ya both away!" (KLP: 8000)

'… _He's way too excited for this,' _Faust thought as he slipped his deck into the duel disk. (FLP: 8000)

"Excellent, now, let the trial begin!" Styx roared as he plucked five cards from the top of his deck. (SLP: 8000)

"DUEL!"

With the duelists all spread out from each other, Styx pulled a sixth card from his deck and held it up, "Allow me the first turn…"

"Not like we got a choice here," Faust stated as he looked at his hand of cards. '_Sides, with what I've got in stored, I can burn him pretty good…'_

"I shall start with this!" Styx announced as he slapped a card onto his duel disk. The floor before the gas masked duelist shattered opened to allow a large robotic creature to fly up through the air. The machine itself was a robotic monstrosity that was covered with various drills (1600/1100).

"Drillago?" Faust muttered under his breath. "Is this supposed to be a joke?"

Styx didn't reply to that, and rather slipped a pair of cards into his duel disk. "To continue my turn, I'll set one card face down, and then I'll activate the continuous Spell – Psychosis Blueprint!"

The green bordered card materialized in front of Styx, revealing the blueprints of a very infamous android-like monster in the game of Duel Monsters. Styx crossed his arms, "That's my turn, show me what ya got."

Kaito smirked as he reached for his deck…

"MY DRAW!"

… But then Kaito stopped when he realized that Faust had made that announcement and had already drawn his sixth card. "OI! I wanted to go next!"

"Too bad," Faust stated as he slipped a card into his duel disk. "I'll play Call of the Mummy!"

The spell materialized in front of Faust, depicting two mummies emerging from some cards. "Since I possess no monsters on the field, I can now special summon any Zombie from my hand – And I choose this one!"

Faust slapped the card upon his duel disk and a powerful flame erupted next to the white haired duelist, and from the flames a large skull flew through the air, the flames following it as it flew about (1000/800). "Burning Skull Head! And when special summoned from my hand, it blasts one of you with a thousand points of damage!

"And guess what Mr. Mask, you're feeling the burn!"

The fiery skull laughed loudly before it flew around Styx's body, however the masked man didn't even flinch as the flames flew about his body. (SLP: 7000)

As the Burning Skull Head flew back to Faust's field, the white haired duelist slapped a card upon his duel disk. "I'll then set a monster and one set card! Turn end!"

"Alright! Watch out! I'm about to go on a rampage!" Kaito roared loudly as he pulled off the top card from his deck. Looking at the card, Kaito grinned a fanged smile and slapped it onto his duel disk. "Unleash yourself – Gene-Warped Warwolf!"

A loud howl bellowed through the air as a large, four-armed, white furred wolf-man leapt onto the scene, its four claws dug into the carpeting as it narrowed its red eyes at Styx (2000/100).

With the wild look in his eyes, Kaito threw his hand forward, "Now then, here's how a real man duels! Gene-Warped Warwolf! Smash that drill to pieces!"

However, the Warwolf craned its head back towards it owner and shook its head disapprovingly. Kaito reeled back slightly in confusion, "W-What the hell?! Why isn't he attacking?!"

"Don't you know?" Styx sighed with a shake of his head. "In a free for all duel, no duelist can attack on the first turn."

"W… WHAT?!" Kaito yelled out. "T-That's not fair!"

"It's the rules," Faust sighed with a shake of his head. '_Are ya kidding me?'_

"F… FINE!" Kaito roared as he took two cards from his hand and slipped them into his duel disk, having the two cards appear behind his monster. "Two cards in the back, so I guess I'm done…"

Styx reached for his deck but then pulled his hand away, "It's at this time that my Psychosis Blueprint now activates – During my draw phase, by skipping my regular draw, I can take one level four or lower dark machine from my deck to my hand."

A single card popped out from Styx's deck and into his hand, allowing the masked duelist to lift it up the card from the other three. "And you know what? I think I'll play it right now – Arise: Jinzo – Returner!"

A spark of electricity surged in front of Styx and formed into a small, mutated creature with a large, veiny head, three eyes, a green jumpsuit with belts over it, and two extremely large, spiked shoulder pads (600/1400). The mutant's body sparked with electricity.

Faust gritted his teeth, "Damn it… A Jinzo deck?"

Kaito just smirked, "Awesome… A Jinzo deck!"

Styx snickered, "Glad to see you both know what you're up against. But don't think that just because you know, that you can do anything to stop the rampage! I activate a spell – Iron Draw!"

Styx lifted his right hand up into the air, allowing a metallic gauntlet appear over his fist, "If I only control two machine-type monsters, I can draw two more cards!"

And that's what the masked duelist did, and he looked at the four cards now in his hand. "Now for my counter move against you two… I'll start with the spell card – Psychic Wave!"

As the spell materialized before the duelists, another card popped out from Styx's deck, "Now, by sending a specific card from my deck to the graveyard, I can inflict damage to my opponent's life point by the same attack strength as one Jinzo – Returner… Now, who should be the one to take the damage? Beastie Boy? Or Bone Head?"

Styx lifted his hand up into the air and immediately pointed his finger up. And then, he immediately lowered it, "I choose you!"

Kaito's eyes widened as the mutated android lifted its arms up and fired a blast of purple energy through the air that crashed into the red haired duelist. "GAH!" (KLP: 7400)

"But don't think for a second that I'm done," Styx announced as he turned his attention towards Faust and pumped his fist up. "That was just my spell, I still have my battle phase! Jinzo – Returner! Attack the Emo!

"And thanks to its ability, it can attack you directly!"

Faust quickly lifted up his arms to block the dark energy attack that was flung at him. "Urk!" (FLP: 7400)

"And now, Drillago!" Styx announced as he snapped a finger at the large machine. "Your target is…"

"I activate my trap card!" Faust announced as his face down card lifted up. "Generation Shift!"

The Burning Skull Head laughed loudly before it exploded into flames, "Thanks to this trap – Not only does my Skull bite the dust, but I can add another from my deck to my hand!"

As Faust plucked the card from his deck, Styx chuckled, "Smart move, if I got rid of your set monster, then I'd open myself for another thousand points of damage… Then again, that's not gonna stop me! I continue the assault!

"Target is the face down monster!"

The drill covered monster flew across the field and stabbed all of its drills into the set monster, revealing a ghoulish goblin with a sword tightly grasped in it boney hands (1100/1050). The drills pierced the goblin's skin and it shattered, much to Faust's joy. "You just did it again! That was my Goblin Zombie! Now I can add another Zombie from my deck to my hand!"

A single card popped out of Faust's deck as he held them up to his eyes, "This time, I'm taking Mezuki."

"Add all the cards you'd like," Styx announced as he pushed a button on his duel disk. "Cause now I'll activate my own trap card – And I'm sure you'll know what this card does!"

Faust's glasses shook when he realized what the face down on Styx's field was, "Generation Shift!?"

Jinzo – Returner groaned loudly before it shattered into millions of pixels, and just like Faust, Styx added a card from his deck to his hand. But then, that's when the sparks all around the duel field surged about.

"What the hell?" Kaito questioned as he stepped to the side to dodge the sparks. "What's going on now…"

"Jinzo – Returner's effect," Faust growled as a shadowed figure slowly rose up from the floor. "When destroyed…"

"Jinzo takes the field from the grave!" Styx roared.

The shadows on the new figure scattered about, revealing the bald, mechanical monstrosity that was the bane of all traps. Its bright green armor glistened in the light as it lifted its arms up into the air (2400/1500) with electrical energy all around its body.

"And with Jinzo out on the field, all traps are rendered useless!"

Styx's gaze turned towards Faust, which made the white haired duelist bare his teeth again, "Now, I could attack you again, White Head, but I need clear the field of everything – Jinzo! Destroy Wild Boy's Warwolf!"

Jinzo lifted its hands before its chest, with an orb of energy within its hands that it immediately threw it towards the beast-warrior…

All the while, Kaito had a large smirk on his face as he pushed a button on his duel disk, "Ya think ya got me? Not happening! I activate my face down…"

The card lifted up and a powerful green aura swept over the Warwolf's body, allowing it to knock the orb of energy to the side. The Warwolf then charged over the field (2000/100 + 700/0) and slammed its fists right into the android's chest, and shattered the machine! (SLP: 6700)

"Spell card – Rush Recklessly!" Kaito laughed as his Warwolf leapt back to his field. "HA! Ya think I just had traps down? Guess again and…"

"I'll set one card face down," Styx interrupted as the card appeared before him. "And end my turn."

"HEY! Don't just ignore me!" Kaito snarled as he stamped his foot into the ground a few times.

"Then it's my move!" Faust announced as he plucked a card from his deck.

"WHAT DID I JUST SAY!?" Kaito barked loudly.

"For the love of, you sound like a whining pup," Faust growled under his breath as he looked at his hand of five cards – Burning Skull Head, Mezuki, Bonfire, Call of the Haunted, and the card he just drew. '_I bet this guy's got more ways to get Jinzo back onto the field – He's got another Returner in his hand, and I'm willing to bet that he's got his own copy of Call of the Haunted face down on the field.'_

Faust's gaze landed on the card he just drew, '_And wouldn't ya know it, I drew this card – But, I can't be sure about that face down card: Better to go with my initial play…'_

"I use Call of the Mummy's effect once more!"

Faust slapped the card onto his duel disk, and the fiery Skull appeared on the field (1000/800). Faust smirked as he pointed his hand towards Styx like a gun, "And once more, you get blasted!"

The Burning Skull Head cackled loudly before it flew towards Styx, the flames from the skull crashed into the masked man's body… But, he didn't even flinch. (SLP: 5700)

"Next up, I'll play Mezuki!" Faust announced as he slapped the card upon his duel disk.

A loud neigh echoed through the air as a large, muscular horse-headed demon landed before Faust with an axe in its hands (1700/800). "And now – Mezuki! Attack Drillago!"

The horse-headed demon snarled before it charged across the field and slammed its axe into the drill covered machine. The powerful force was enough to cause the machine to shatter into a million pieces. (SLP: 5600)

"And that's my turn," Faust admitted with a smirk as he fitted a card into his duel disk, making the card appear in front of him. '_Heh, now the barking idiot just has to watch out for this masked freak's trap and…'_

"… Pathetic," Styx growled. "Is that really all that you can do?"

"What?!" Faust growled. "What was that?!"

"No need to worry your head on it!" Kaito announced as he drew. "It's my turn!"

'_Damn… I don't have any monsters I can summon…'_ Kaito thought to himself as he looked at the cards in his hand. '_Then again, I can change that quickly!'_

"I play the spell card – Roar of the Beast King!"

Kaito's spell emerged on the field, revealing a large shadowed beast roaring loudly at a Goblin of Greed, knocking the overweight goblin over. "Now, by sending one Normal Beast or Beast-Warrior from my deck to the graveyard…"

Kaito pulled the deck from the duel disk and fanned the cards for a few moments before he turned one of them around, "And my Assault Lion is just the perfect beast for the job!"

With his deck back in the duel disk, Kaito slipped the card into the graveyard slot. "Now that we've got that done, the second effect of my spell activates – Destroying one set card on the field! And I choose yours, Styx!

"And by the by, thanks to my spell, you can't chain the card to mine!"

A loud roar blasted through the air and shattered the masked man's set card. Once again, Styx made no reaction.

"Next, I'll play Swing of Memories!" Kaito announced as his spell card materialized in front of him. "Now I can call forth Assault Lion!"

The floor in front of Kaito erupted open, and allowed an extremely large black mane lion-man to leap into the air, its armored body clanked about as it threw a punch or two (2600/2500).

A large smirk appeared on Kaito's face as he pumped his fist up, "And look! You don't have anything out on your field other than your spell card – You're prime for direct attacks! Warwolf! Lion!

"SMASH HIM TO PIECES!"

Both of the beastly warriors leapt towards Styx and punched the masked duelist right in the chest, which actually propelled him off of the table he was on and onto the floor behind him. (SLP: 1000)

"YEAH! How do ya like me now?!" Kaito laughed as he crossed his arms. "Bet ya wish you didn't ignore me now – Didn't ya?"

"Frankly, I'm still disappointed," Styx answered back as he leapt back to the top of the table.

"Huh?" Kaito questioned. "The hell you mean?"

"That move right there…" Styx stated with a shake of his head. "It could've ended this duel right here and there, if it wasn't for the cowardice of the emo over there?"

Faust hissed as he reeled back.

"It's a simple thing to notice," Styx stated as he pointed towards the Burning Skull Head on Faust's field. "If this Emo Idiot had attacked me with his Skull, you would've won right now – But let me guess…

"_What if his face down card is a trap? What if it's something that can cripple me throughout the game?"_

Faust staggered back – For when Styx spoke those words, it was in his voice. "H-How the h-hell…"

"Its basic human fear," Styx answered with a wag of his finger. "The unknown is what instills in everyone – From the fact of what I look like to what I have face down on the field, and to what can happen to you when this duel ends: You may be able to put on a brave face, but your actions speak louder than any words!"

Faust bit his lower lip and looked to his right hand, taking note that he was actually shaking. '_Damn it…'_

"Anyone would be shaking with excitement!"

Both Faust and Styx turned to see Kaito with his hand up into the air, his fingers in a peace sign. "This duel is an awesome opener for the new year! If you're a professor, I can't wait to see some of your classes!"

There was a moment of silence.

"I have to deal with this?" Styx moaned as he slapped the forehead of his mask.

"Moron…" Faust muttered under his breath.

Kaito just laughed loudly as he lifted a card up, "So what if Faust here made a mistake – It just adds more to the duel! Now, I'll activate White Elephant's Gift! Since my Assault Lion's going to the grave at the end of the turn, this spell allows me to send my Lion to the grave to draw two more cards!"

The Assault Lion gave off one more roar before it faded away and allowed Kaito to pull off two more cards from his deck. '_Heh, now I draw ya! Well, I guess it can't hurt to summon him!'_

"I summon – Master of the Underdog!"

What happened next was odd to say the least. The melodic sounds of a harmonica echoed through the air as a rugged figure simply walked onto the field – with wild down hair, dressed in a school uniform that had the sleeves ripped off (1400/1000) and he was the one who played the harmonica.

"That's… The person on Heart of the Underdog?" Faust questioned.

"You bet it is!" Kaito laughed as he fitted a card into his duel disk. "I'll end my turn for this face down card – And my turn's done!"

Styx snorted as he reached for his deck, "I could use my Psychosis Blueprint this turn, but I shall forgo that to draw!"

Styx drew from the top of his deck and looked at the card he drew, now granting him four cards to work with. "And first I shall summon a familiar face – Jinzo – Returner!"

With several electrical sparks, the small android appeared before the masked man (600/1400). "Next, I shall play the card I drew this turn – Iron Call!"

A magnetic surge poured from Styx's hand as a single card shot out from his graveyard, "Now, since I control a Machine, I can summon another from my graveyard – Return once more: Jinzo – Returner!"

In a powerful spark, a second mutated android appeared on the field (600/1400).

"Now, its time I show you the trap that I had on the field," Styx announced as he reached into his graveyard slot and pulled out two cards. "Dark Mechanic!"

The trap appeared on the field, revealing Kozaky dressed in mechanic overalls looking over a Jinzo. "Since I have two Dark Machines on the field, by removing my trap and my Drillago, I can draw two more cards."

"I… You bastard!" Faust growled as he threw his arm to the side. "That was a bluff?!"

"Not my fault you felt the fear," Styx stated as he drew two cards from the top of his deck adding them to the other two in his hand. "Now, I'll activate the spell card – Cybernetic Fusion Support!"

A surge of electricity erupted over Styx's body as he growled loudly. "Now, for a mere cost of half my life points, once this turn, if I fusion summon a Machine, I can use the materials on the field, my hand or my graveyard!" (SLP: 500)

That electricity around Styx's body flew into his hand and he turned the card around, "And now – Go! POWER BOND!"

Both of the Jinzo – Returners groaned as the electricity erupted around the two of them, and then Jinzo himself appeared behind them. The three androids screeched loudly before their shattered like glass. "Now… ARISE my ultimate creature!"

From the remains of the three monsters, a new android arose from the field – It resembled Jinzo in shape, but its armor had spikes on it with a more metallic shine and atop its head was a helmet that had exposed wires and its clothes were more ornate (3000/1800). "Ultimate Jinzo!"

"Grr…" Faust growled.

Kaito clenched his fist tightly, and shook.

"And thanks for my Power Bond, it doubles my monster's attack!" Styx announced as electricity surged about the android's body (3000/1800 + 3000/0). "But it's not enough! Not enough! Go! Limiter Removal!"

Once more, the sparks flew about Jinzo's body (6000/1800 + 6000/0).

"T-That… That is…" Faust growled.

"AWESOME!" Kaito yelled out as he pumped his fist up into the air. "BRING IT ON!"

Styx chuckled as he lifted his arms to the side, "I'm impressed that you have so much courage, however it's useless in the face of Ultimate Jinzo – Since he's on the field, he gains the same effect as the original Jinzo, so no trap cards allowed for you two. The only problem I have to deal with now…

"Is choose who goes down."

Styx turned his gaze towards Faust, "Should it be the cowardly emo?"

Then his gaze shifted at Kaito, "Or the yapping mutt?"

"You think you got this in the bag?" Kaito chuckled as he pumped a fist towards Styx. "Then bring it on!"

"Hehehehe… Very well, if you wish," Styx stated, his left arm lifted up into the air. "Then I've made my choice! Ultimate Jinzo! Attack…"

_**Dakara Hi Hi Hi! Shiawase ga**_

_**Kitto Hi HI Hi! Utai dasu!**_

_**Kagayaiteru kono kisetsu ni mune ga**_

_**Mune ga odoru no!**_

Styx stopped and reached into his pocket, pulling out a cell phone that he flicked open next to his masked mouth, "Yeah what do you want? I'm kinda busy here!"

Faust slumped his shoulders slapped his forehead, "Are you freakin' serious!?"

"What's wrong?" Kaito asked with a question mark appearing over his head. "He's just answering a call, not like that's a big deal…"

"It's not the action, it's the ringtone," Faust grumbled before he stood up straight. "This guy's been trying to be all mysterious and dark, and he has that as his ringtone?! He just broke his credibility!"

"What's wrong with the ringtone?" Kaito questioned as he threw his arms behind his head.

"It totally clashes with what he looks like!" Faust barked back as he pointed a finger at Styx who was still talking on his phone. "If anything, with the cards he's using and the gas mask, I was expecting something like the theme of Metal Gear Solid, or something like that – Not something like from…"

"Okay!" Styx announced before he snapped the phone shut and pocketed it. "Change of plans – I surrender!"

"Wait, what?!" Faust and Kaito questioned at the same time, both for different reasons though.

The monsters and cards on the field faded away, and Styx deactivated his duel disk. "Feel free to keep the disks if you like – I'll be…"

"NOW HOLD ON A MINUTE!"

Styx stopped and turned towards Kaito who had fire in his eyes and barred his teeth at the masked man, "You started this duel, and you're not even going to finish it?! You call yourself a duelist?!"

"I don't," Styx replied as he turned his back to the two duelists. "I'm just a man on a job – And I'm just following orders, and right now, my orders are to take care of something more important than dealing with a coward and a barking puppy…"

Faust shook his fist, "You lousy… If you're gonna insult me then just try to defeat me!"

Styx's body began to fade away. "Perhaps another time, coward… Perhaps…"

"You call him a coward?" Kaito stated, not caring that Styx faded away. "You're nothing more than a hypocrite! You're the one running from this duel!"

But Kaito's words never reached Styx, he faded away, the color of the room slowly returned…

Kaito sighed as he rubbed the back of his head. Then he pulled a card from his duel disk, the card he set was a quick-play spell called Command Silencer – It would've negated an attack and allowed Kaito to draw a card. '_Styx… Next time I see ya, we'll finish that duel…'_

Faust on the other hand pushed up his glasses, '_A… A coward? Styx… You'll regret that…'_

Unknown to the two duelists, there was a third person who was unaffected by Styx's odd time freeze – and watched the duel between the three. As she gently placed her silverware on the napkin on the table before her, she watched as Faust walked out of the café and Kaito pump his fists tightly.

'_I see… So, those two are the ones – Once we reach the island, I'll have to begin my mission…_

'_Ad maiorem Dei gloriam…'_

**TTT – TTT**

**Card Stats**

**Psychic Wave / Quick-Play Spell / Effect:** Activate only by sending 1 'Jinzo' from your hand or deck to the Graveyard while a face-up Attack Position "Jinzo – Returner" is on the field. Inflict damage to your opponent equal to the ATK of a face-up "Jinzo – Returner" you control.**  
Image:** The Jinzo – Returner sending a force of energy at a duelist while the original Jinzo is behind it.

_This card was used by Makoto in Yu-Gi-Oh GX anime._

**Assault Lion / Earth / LV. 7 / ATK: 2600 / DEF: 2500 / Beast-Warrior**

**Description:**

_This card was used in the Yu-Gi-Oh! R manga._

**Iron Draw / Normal Spell / Effect:** If you control exactly 2 Machine-Type monsters: Draw 2 cards.**  
Image:** A metallic had being blasted apart.

_This card was used by Tetsuo in the Zexal Anime._

**Master of the Underdog / Fire/ LV. 4 / ATK: 1400 / DEF: 1000 / Warrior/Tuner:** This monster is treated as a Normal Monster for the purpose of determining card effects. If this card is used in a synchro summon, the other monster(s) must be normal monster(s). When this card is destroyed as a result of battle, Special Summon one Level 4 or lower normal monster from your deck (except "Master of the Underdog").**  
Description:** The youth from Heart of the Underdog.

_This card was used by Kaito in Scarlet Weather's fiction – Burning Red. Thanks for this dood! Appreciate it!_

**Psychosis Blueprint / Continuous Spell / Effect:** During your Draw Phase, by skipping your draw, you may add 1 Level 4 or lower DARK Machine-Type monster from your deck to your hand. During your third End Phase after this card was activated, destroy this card.

**Image:** The blueprints of Jinzo.

**Dark Mechanic / Normal Trap / Effect:** By removing this card from your graveyard and 1 DARK Machine-Type monster while you have at least 2 DARK Machine-Type monsters on your side of the field, draw 2 cards

**Image:** Kozaky dressed as a mechanic looking over a Jinzo

**Ultimate Jinzo / Dark / LV. 10 / ATK: 3000 / DEF: 1800 / Machine/Fusion/Effect:** [Jinzo + 1 DARK Machine-Type monster + 1 DARK Machine-Type monster] Your opponent's Trap Cards, and their effects on the field, cannot be activated. When this card would be destroyed by your opponent's card (either through battle or by card effect), by destroying two Spell or Trap cards on the field, you may negate this card's destruction. When this card is sent to the graveyard, special summon 1 'Jinzo' from your graveyard or removed from play pile**  
Description:** A more supped up Jinzo with the Amplifier on its head and more armor on it.

**Roar of the Beast King / Quick-Play Spell / Effect:** Send one normal Beast or Beast-Warrior monster from your deck to the graveyard. Destroy one spell or trap card on the field (The selected card cannot be activated in response to this card). **  
Image:** A goblin of Greed being bowled over by a shadowed beast's roar.

**TTT – TTT**

**Kaito: Damn it! What kind of start was that?! The Styx guy was about to pull off an awesome move and he just ups and leave?! What a rip!**

**Faust: Well, what do you expect? If the heroes lose their first duel in the story, we'd look pretty pathetic…**

**Kaito: We could've taken that masked freak down!**

**Faust: It's called a plot device, something that the author wants us to deal with.**

**Kaito: Gah, what the hell! That's so annoying!**

**Faust: Imagine what the readers' are feeling right now… We'll need to give them something that they can latch onto the story with or else we're gonna lose them all!**

**?: Then please, allow me to take the stage and grace everyone here – For the name of the lord, I shall do what I can…**

**Kaito: Huh? Who are you supposed to be?**

_**Next chapter**_

_**Draw 1**_

_**Soul of Purity and Light**_


	2. Draw 2 Soul of Purity and Light

**The foundation stones for a balanced success are honesty, character, integrity, faith, love and loyalty.**

**Zig Zglar**

**TTT - TTT  
**

_**Draw 2**_

_**Soul of Purity and Light**_

**TTT – TTT **

It wasn't until the mid-morning of the next day did the boat to Duel Academia docked at the large island, and the moment that the platforms from the boat touched the docks, the batch of students departed to the island – Where they were met with a practical city instead of just a tropical island, for amongst the many trees were several buildings.

But before the students could get too far, a group of people dressed in yellow uniforms of the academy's staff, set there to guide the freshmen to their dorm assignments while the sophomores and senior class that had opted to take the boat went on their own merry ways.

The freshmen were herded to the main hall of the large school building where they would receive their dorm assignments, their school PDAs, and of course – Their uniforms. While those who were given the blue uniform had no complaints, others weren't so glad…

"RED?! WHY THE HELL AM I RED!?"

Faust shook his head as he heard that yelling behind him. While his score on both the written and field test were exceptional, he wasn't accepted into Obelisk Blue – In order to get into that, you had to have prior education at a prep school (and even then, you had to be at the top of the class from that to be admitted straight into blue).

So, with the yellow blazer in his hands and not being blind, the white haired teen slowly made his way towards the yellow dorm. However, his mind was heavy with several thoughts that haunted him through the night, '_… That bastard Styx…'_

"_That move right there…" Styx stated with a shake of his head. "It could've ended this duel right here and there, if it wasn't for the cowardice of the emo over there?"_

_Faust hissed as he reeled back._

"_It's a simple thing to notice," Styx stated as he pointed towards the Burning Skull Head on Faust's field. "If this Emo Idiot had attacked me with his Skull, you would've won right now – But let me guess…_

"_What if his face down card is a trap? What if it's something that can cripple me throughout the game?"_

_Faust staggered back – For when Styx spoke those words, it was in his voice. "H-How the h-hell…"_

"_Its basic human fear," Styx answered with a wag of his finger. "The unknown is what instills in everyone – From the fact of what I look like to what I have face down on the field, and to what can happen to you when this duel ends: You may be able to put on a brave face, but your actions speak louder than any words!"_

Faust nearly threw his suitcase to the ground out of rage as he barred his teeth. '_Cowardice?! Fear?! I'll show that ass, I'll be ruling this academy by the end of my first year! And if that Psycho Mantis wannabe shows his masked face in front of me, I'll beat him into an inch of his life!'_

With a large grin on his face, Faust tightened his grip on the uniform before he went to find his dorm. '_First things first – I'm gonna modify this uniform, yellow isn't my color. I think I got some black fabric in my suitcase to make this work…'_

While Faust made his way to the Ra Yellow dorm…

"Kaito! Kaito Shishio!"

At the call of his name, Kaito ran up to the front of the line in the main hall a large grin on his face, "That's me! I'll be taking my uniform please!"

The attendant rolled her eyes as she lifted up a PDA, the dorm assignment paper and of course, his uniform blazer – That very, very RED uniform jacket. Kaito looked at the clothing for a few moments before he snatched it out of the attendant's hands. "YES! RED ALL THE WAY!"

After he got out of the way of the other students, Kaito smirked at the red jacket he had tucked under his arm. With a quick look at the sheet of paper, the wild haired duelist nodded to himself, '_I'll crawl my way to the top, and I'll knock anyone out who gets in my way and…'_

That's when a certain gas mask wearing duelist popped into his head, '_Oh yeah! That cocky bastard! If he shows up, I'll show him not to run away from a duel! I should probably talk to that Faust guy sometime – I still need to face him in a duel, he kinda owes me too!'_

"This is unacceptable!"

"Huh?" Kaito muttered out loud.

The red haired duelist turned his head to see that at one of the attendant tables was a young woman with long blonde hair and glasses, dressed in a fancy long skirt and blouse. She held up a rather short blue skirt in her hands and her face was flushed red, "I… I mean, this is rather embarrassing, and it's indecent for any girl to wear something like this."

"I… I'm sorry, Miss," the attendant coughed with his hands lifted up defensively. "But that is the standard uniform for all Obelisk Blue girl students… Although, if you want, I could provide you a male uniform, of course you'll have get fitted once more…"

The young woman sighed as she lifted her blue PDA up, "N-Never mind… I'll just have to work with what I have."

Kaito shrugged his shoulders and continued on his way, '_I guess she didn't like the color – Oh well, not everyone can be in the awesome Red Dorm!'_

**TTT – TTT **

At the main office at the school building, the chancellor watched as he saw the students head towards their respective dorms, being led by the volunteer upper classmen. A small smile appeared on his face, '_This reminds me of my first day here – and of course 'his', I can feel the potential here…'_

The chancellor turned his head around and looked at the frame that sat on his desk – A picture of several young people in it, each dressed in the academy uniforms. He walked to the desk and lifted the frame up, '_… It reminds me of them – Each of them had their own potential and drew upon more and more. I wonder, will this be the same as it was then?'_

"Chancellor?"

Without skipping a beat, the Chancellor lowered the frame and had it laid face down on the desk, his attention turned towards his assistant, "Yes? Is there a problem?"

"No, I just thought I'd bring something to your attention," the assistant answered back as she walked forward with an iPad in her arms. "We received the results of first year students, and we have a few prominent candidates this year."

The corner of the Chancellor's mouth curled slightly, "That's good to hear, but I doubt that you would bring something like that to my attention, usually you send this information to me via e-mail."

"You certainly know how to read people, Chancellor," the assistant replied as she held her iPad to the Chancellor, which displayed to pictures on them. "I just thought you'd like to see the two students who managed to score the highest scores – Both the written and field examination – especially since they managed to be the top students within the last decade."

The Chancellor looked at the information and raised a brow, "Hmm, just on par with Misawa's… Interesting…"

The Chancellor rubbed his chin in interest as he handed the iPad back to his assistant, "Hamaguchi-san, do we have anything set for the opening ceremony?"

Hamaguchi messed with her iPad for a little bit and sighed, "The only thing we have set is your speech for the students…"

"Cancel my speech," The Chancellor stated as he turned his attention back to the window. "I have another item of business that we can use to introduce the students to the new year…"

"You just don't want to give your speech, do you?" Hamaguchi stated bluntly as she leered at the Chancellor.

The Chancellor turned his attention back towards Hamaguchi, his face still stern and his eyes serious, "These young duelists didn't come all this way to listen to an old man speak to them – Rather, they came here to learn the art of the duel, to become the best duelists in the world: And what better way to ignite their prides as duelists than a duel between the top two duelists of the first year?

"It'll fuel their duelist souls to have them work even harder to become great duelists."

"I still say it's because you don't wanna give your speech," Hamaguchi sighed as she typed a bit on her personal pad. "But whatever, I'll inform the two duelists of what will be happening, and within one hour we'll get this show on the road. But before then, Chancellor, you have a guest…"

The Chancellor raised an eyebrow as the doors behind Hamaguchi opened up. And into the office walked in a young lass with her brown hair brushing against her shoulders, which were covered up with a white coat with blue trim, a staple of the Obelisk Blue male uniform which hugged her slim figure. In front of her large eyes were a pair of oval-framed eyeglasses, around her neck was a black choker that seemed to have a tag on it (not too different from a dog collar admittedly) and in her hands was a large box that was wrapped in colorful paper.

The young lass smiled brightly as she continued towards the desk, when she reached it, the Chancellor turned around and she bowed slightly, "G-Good day to you, Chancellor-sama."

Once more, a small smile appeared on the Chancellor's face, "Tanaka Akane, I see some things haven't changed during the summer break, but there's no need to be so formal."

"I… I apologize, Chancellor-Sama," Akane replied as she lifted her head up to show a warm smile. "But still, I wanted to show respect to you for your generous offer over the summer. It was a pleasure to be at a Master's Tournament."

"I'm glad you enjoyed yourself, Tanaka-san," Chancellor answered back as he pointed towards the box. "But what may I ask is that?"

"Oh, just a little present to say my thanks," Akane stated as she placed the present onto the desk and fold her hands before her. "I figured you'd like it."

The Chancellor looked towards Akane and then opened the present. When he did, he closed his eyes and nodded, "I see you managed to get a pretty nice souvenir."

From the box was a large golden trophy had had the Dark Magician atop of the trophy. The Chancellor lifted up the trophy and smirked slightly, "Good to see that your skills haven't dulled over the summer, you've kept them honed pretty well."

"Thank you, Chancellor-sama," Akane stated as she bowed again. "It was a great tournament, but the finals were… Well, they were a bit odd."

"What do you mean?" Chancellor questioned.

"Hmm, well, it was the opponent," Akane answered with a look of confusion. "She was very skilled, don't get me wrong, and she almost beat me in the finals."

"You're not one to fear opponents," Chancellor replied as he took the trophy from the box and made his way to a shelf.

"Oh, I wasn't afraid, Chancellor-sama," Akane continued as she walked behind the chancellor. "It was just how she acted, she almost didn't even want to be there even though she was in the finals…"

Chancellor turned towards Akane, "What do you mean?"

"She kept her duel disk away from her," Akane explained as she lifted her left arm up, acting as though she had a duel disk on her arm. "You know how a duelist has their duel disk close to them so they can keep their cards secret…"

Akane then lifted her arm up a little bit and held it out with a little bit held to the side. "But she held it like this – almost as if she was ashamed of having the thing on."

Chancellor rubbed his chin, "That is very odd… Then again, I've seen a few duelists who are forced to duel for the sake of their family. But then again, why she would be in a Master's Tournament? That's the question…"

"Well, w-whatever the case, it's good to be back at the academy," Akane answered with a warm smile. "I hope this year's a good one…"

"There's going to be a good opening at the very least," The Chancellor replied. "In a few hours, we'll be seeing what the first years can do."

"… Didn't want to do the speech this year?" Akane asked.

The Chancellor didn't say a word.

**TTT – TTT **

The Osiris Red Dorm was definitely upgraded since the days of Yuki Judai, as it now rivaled that of the Ra Yellow dorm in size and quality and was actually a remodeled version of a previous dorm. Kaito was in near awe as he walked through the red carpeted halls to his room assignment, the dorm was stylized to resemble that of a rather comfy apartment building.

"Two-hundred and eleven," Kaito counted off the doors as he casually walked past them. "Two-hundred and twelve… Ah, here it is: Two-hundred and thirteen! For the next couple of years, I get to call this home – Not bad, not bad at all!"

With his PDA held up to the reader next to the door, Kaito smirked as he heard the door unlock itself. Then with a powerful kick, Kaito slammed the door open, "HEY ROOMIE! GREAT TO MEET YA!"

However, Kaito was greeted with only silence, and when he peered in, he saw that the rather large room with bunk beds was devoid of life – save for the hamsters that were in a cage at the opposite of the room that skittered about their large cage. At the cage was a note that read 'Roommate' on it.

Kaito entered the room with the door closing behind him, '_Huh, wonder where my roommate is…'_

With his bags and uniform now on the floor, Kaito picked up the note and opened it up. '_Let's see… Dear new roommate, sorry I'm out right now, but I had some friends to visit when I got back on the island. I won't be back till tomorrow morning, but I welcome you to Osiris Red! I hope your year is great! I owe you a tour!_

'_By the way, would you do me a favor and feed the Fearsome Four here? Their food should be right next to the cage, and I'll owe you more than a just a tour.'_

Putting the note down, Kaito looked at the four hamsters that seemed to look at him with curious eyes. The young duelist waved at the small critters and they actually waved back to him! "Well, at least I got five roommates instead of one! That'll be awesome to…"

BEEP! BEEP!

Kaito stopped and lifted up his PDA up to see that he just got a message…

**Attention all students.**

**There has been a change in schedule.**

**All students are to unpack their belongings in their rooms, dress in their uniforms and report to the main hall at 3:00 p.m., where the opening ceremony will be held for all students. **

**Two students have been selected for the opening ceremony**

**The First Official Duel of the Year.**

**Those students have received a separate e-mail so that they may ready themselves for their duel. **

**Know that talk is cheap, but the heat of the duel is as sweet as the victory.**

**Chancellor M.R.**

A wild smirk grew on Kaito's face as he flicked a few buttons on his PDA, checking to see if he was the one who was chosen for the opening duel…

That smirk slowly curled down into a very disgruntled frown until he barred his teeth at the small device, "Damn it! C'mon! I kicked ass at the dueling examinations! I should be at the opening duel!"

With a loud growl, Kaito tossed the PDA on the bed and lifted up his uniform – the red blazer. He looked at it a little bit and shook his head. "Meh, island weather and long sleeves don't mix…"

It didn't' take much force for Kaito to rip the sleeves off and toss them to the side, and now, he slipped on the brand new vest he just fashioned with his bare arms exposed. "Well, I might not be able to duel on the first day here – But I can still watch an awesome fight!"

**TTT – TTT **

From the higher leveled floors of Duel Academy's main building, Akane watched as the students slowly filed into main hall from the suite box: conglomerates of red, yellow and blue dressed young men and women flooded to the seats.

Akane smiled as she placed a hand on the glass before her, and she closed her eyes. '_I can feel it – There's a lot of potential here. This year may finally be the one where we can finally…'_

A loud swish interrupted Akane's thoughts, which immediately drew her attention towards the door behind her.

Standing at the doorway were two more students.

The student on the right was a tall, muscular man with black hair that was styled in the front to fall between his eyes wildly. His face was broad and he had the beginnings of stubble on his defined chin. Over his muscular body, the young man wore a large yellow blazer that almost looked painted on his wide arms, under the blazer he wore a black wife beater that showed the top of his pectorals, and over his legs were a pair of worn and torn blue jeans.

In comparison to the tall man, the girl who also stood at the door was dwarfed by his shear size. With long, purple, blue and black hair (with a single streak of pink that was beaded near her face) this girl had a youthful face that had a large smirk plastered on it. Her petite figure was dressed in a black and white sailor uniform that was traditional with Japanese schools, but she had a red vest over her uniform – One that had a ton of emblems stitched onto it. On her finely toned legs were a pair of red leggings that had a number of holes in them and on her back was a guitar case. "Yoohoo! Akane-sempai!"

Akane walked to the two students and bowed towards them, "Tomo! Kanji! I hope your summers were just as e-enjoyable as mine."

"Meh, it was boring as hell!" Tomo, the girl replied as she jumped into one of the nearby seats. "Dulls-ville! That's what Domino City should be called now-a-days… Can't even walk down the street without those damn D-Tires, or whatever the hell they're called, racing down the streets trying to clip ya.

"Dueling on motorcycles… Who the hell comes up with this stuff?!"

The tall man coughed slightly and reached into his pocket, "It's like night and day with you two – Tomo's loud and brash, Akane's calm and respectful… Still, it's those charms that I love. My summer was great, thanks for asking Akane-san. I brought souvenirs from my trips."

"Oh yeah, how was America?" Tomo asked as she placed the guitar case up against her chair. "You go to Dollywood? How was Niagara Falls?"

Kanji chuckled as he pulled out a pair of well wrapped gifts from his jacket's pockets. "Tomo, Niagara Falls is in Canada. I was in Vegas most of the time…"

"You win it big on the slots?" Tomo chuckled as she lifted her hand out for her gift.

"Tomo-san, Kanji-kun isn't old enough to gamble," Akane pointed out as she held her hands up to receive Kanji's gift.

"With his luck and looks," Tomo laughed as she unwrapped the gift. "He'd probably just waltz into the casinos and not get carded."

Tomo's attention zoomed in on the gift and her eyes lit up at the sight of what was in her hands, "Aww, sweet! How'd you get your hands on this CD?! This artist hasn't even released most of the songs on this album to the public yet!"

"Hey, you know the saying," Kanji snickered with his arms crossed. "What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas…"

"Oh, and does procuring this card fall under that saying?" Akane questioned as she lifted up a single duel monster card up with a smile.

A small blush appeared on the larger duelist's face as he turned slightly, "W-Well… There was a small tournament that had this as a prize, so, I figured why not?"

"Oh, and why is there a price tag on the casing here?" Akane pointed out as she spun the card around to show the price on the card.

Kanji's eyes widened and he reeled back. "GAH!"

A moment later, Kanji was in the corner of the room with a dark aura wrapped around his body, his head was lowered and he used his pointer finger to draw in the carpet. "Curse my eyes… Why didn't I remove the blasted tag?"

Akane brought her hand up to her mouth, "Uh, Kanji-kun, it's alright – It's the thought that counts, and this card is rather valuable. I just didn't want you to spend money on me…"

With a loud sigh, Kanji stood up with a broad smile, "Oi, you shouldn't have to worry your head on that, Akane! We're all friends here, and that's what friends do… After all, you got me a card for my deck last year, so why shouldn't I return the favor? It's only fair…"

"Still, the card I gave you was a prize," Akane sighed as she looked at the card. "You paid a lot for this…"

"Well," Kanji whistled innocently as he turned to the side to scratch the side of his face. "Maybe if you wanna make it up to me… How about a romantic, candlelit dinner? A movie? You. Me. Friday night?"

"Ooh, Kanji used attract!" Tomo laughed.

Akane's face was a little red and she looked away from Kanji's date offer (Tomo's comment didn't help), "Uh, well, unfortunately…"

"But Kanji missed!"

"No," Akane answered back.

"Akane used Counter!"

Kanji yelled out before he fell to his knees, tears appeared in the corners of his eyes as the dark aura reappeared over him.

"It was super effective!"

"Tomo-chan!" Akane scoffed at the multicolored hair girl. "That's just rude!"

"Hey, I wasn't the one who shot him down," Tomo countered with a cackle. "I just added playful commentary to it."

Akane sighed loudly before she turned back to the glass – Kanji would be alright… Eventually. It wasn't the first time his advances were shot down, and he reacted much worse before. And he would always bounce back after a little bit.

"So, Akane, ya know who's dueling down there?" Tomo asked as she crossed her legs in the chair. "I wonder if the newbies this year are any good."

"Well, we'll find out soon enough," Akane replied as she watched as most of the students in the main hall were now seated and a single figure walked onto the stage in the middle of the large hall. "The duel's about to start."

Down at the stage, Hamaguchi sighed under her breath before she lifted the microphone to her mouth. "Hello and welcome to duel academy, students. I am Hamaguchi Momoe and… Ahem!"

Most of the students were engaged in idle chit-chat, actively ignoring the finely dressed secretary on stage as she tried to garner their attention. '_It's the same every year…'_

Taking a deep breath, Hamaguchi brought the microphone close to her mouth and then smiled with a goofy grin. Then she whistled into the microphone, steadily getting louder until it was a high pitched screech that made most of the students stop talking and cover their ears in pain. When she realized that none of the students were talking, Hamaguchi smiled innocently and spoke calmly into the mic. "That's so much better! Hello and welcome to Duel Academy boys and girls, I'm Hamaguchi Momoe, and I'll be your host for this opening ceremony duel.

"Due to some… 'Unforeseen circumstances', the Chancellor requested that I welcome you all to Duel Academy and then introduce the students who will participating in the first duel of the year. Although you all wear different colors of your respective dorms, you are all equals in the eyes of staff and we hope you will extend that courtesy to your fellow students – Regardless of whether you're in blue, yellow or red.

"You're here to become the best duelists in the world, to be the hope for the future, and it's our job to make sure that you all become that hope in not only in the dueling world: But for any path you choose."

Hamaguchi pulled the mic away and smiled to herself for a moment before she continued. "And now, for the opening duel! Both of these students scored in the top rankings of the written examination, qualified to be allowed into Obelisk Blue from recommendations from their previous schools, and even scored equal numbers in their field tests.

"So, please welcome the students. First we have the young prodigy – Alfred Reidsworth."

From one side of the stage, a single young student dressed in a blue jacket (it was obvious it was once a coat, but the tails were actually cut off) and white pants over his thin frame. He had short black hair that was spiked up with bushy eyebrows that were narrowed over his sharp eyes and donned a blue trimmed duel disk on his left arm.

A smile was on his face as he walked up to Hamaguchi and snatched the microphone from her, "Soon to be classmates of mine! I am Alfred Reidsworth! I hope to get along with you all, and I would like to take this opportunity is that I will be applying to be on the student council as soon as positions are opened for the Freshmen class.

"I hope that you all give me your support for when I run!"

Before Alfred could continue, Hamaguchi pulled the microphone back and pushed Alfred back over to the side, "Yes, well, that's all well and good, but we need to introduce your opponent. And here she comes – Teresa Unno."

On the opposite end of the stage, the same young woman who had witnessed Faust and Kaito's duel stepped up onto the stage – Only now her long blond hair was pulled back into her tail and she was wearing a blue skirt and white, sleeveless top that had blue trim on it. However, there were some extra frills on the fabric to add length to her skirt and sleeves to her uniform.

Teresa did have a duel disk, but she didn't have it on her arm. Rather she held it away from her body and stood tall on her side of the stage.

"Well, since Mr. Reidsworth said a few words," Hamaguchi cleared her throat as she walked over to Teresa. "Would you like to say a few words to your fellow classmates?"

Teresa took a deep breath and held her hand up to accept the microphone, "_Sed et si ambulavero in valle mortis, non timebo malum quoniam__…"_

And with that, Teresa handed the microphone back to a rather confused Hamaguchi, but she shrugged and looked towards Alfred, "O-Kay… Now then, how about we get this duel started with! Both duelists, please ready your duel disks…"

"Of course!" Alfred announced as his duel disk hummed to life.

Teresa sighed under her breath as she hesitantly slipped her duel disk on. As the device lit up, the frilled uniform student held the duel disk away from her body as far as her arm would allow. From the suite where Akane was from, her eyes widened, "That girl… She's the one at the tournament…"

"You know her?"

Akane turned slightly to see that Kanji was back on his feet, although his tanned skin paled slightly. "Well… I went to the Master's Tournament during the summer, and I think she was the opponent that I faced against in the finals. She held her duel disk in the same manner as that girl down there, but definitely looks different from then…"

"Oh? What was her name?" Kanji questioned as he watched the two duelists on the field shuffle each other's deck.

"It wasn't Teresa Unno," Akane answered back. "A lot of duelists like to give false names for their dueling career: Sort of like those professional masked wresters you like to watch…"

"Lucha libre," Kanji corrected.

"So, this little girl was in a Master's Tourney and fought against Akane-sempai?" Tomo asked, a wild smirk now plastered on her face. "Kukuku, well, this will be an interesting duel then! I heard about this Alfred guy – He's supposed to be the holder of a couple of junior cups, got them when he was barely even a teenager.

"Heck, he even won against some of the guest duelists at those things."

"So, what you're saying is that we should look forward to an excellent opening?" Kanji asked, his gaze never leaving the dueling field.

"Dunno!" Tomo laughed back.

Back on the stage, Teresa gingerly shuffled the deck that Alfred had handed her, while he was shuffling like a mad man – And yet, not a single card was damaged. Teresa pushed up her glasses before she held the deck of cards up, "Here you are."

With a large smile, Alfred held up Teresa's deck before he took his own. "Most excellent! Now, let us have a very excellent duel! Haha!"

Teresa didn't say a word as she took her deck back and silently slipped it into her duel disk.

"Hmm, quiet one, eh?" Alfred stated as he snapped his deck into the duel disk's deck slot. "That's fine, we'll leave the words on the dueling field! Although, I am impressed that you know Latin, it's a fine language!"

"I see, well then, perhaps this shall be tolerable after all," Teresa stated as she walked away from Alfred who stepped backwards.

"That's the spirit, haha!" Alfred laughed as he lifted his duel disk up to his chest. "DUEL!" (ALP: 8000)

Hesitantly, Teresa reached up for her cards then took a deep breath as she pulled off the top five cards from her deck. '_Please forgive me for the sins I am about to commit.'_ (TLP: 8000)

A large holographic coin appeared in the middle of the field as Hamaguchi stepped down from the stage, '_So, let's see what this new generation is capable of.'_

"So, we need to call who goes first?" Alfred stated, the smile on his face growing as he watched the coin appear in the air. "Then I shall call! It shall be tails!"

Teresa didn't respond as the holographic coin bounced about until a large eye of Wdjat showed face up. "Unfortunately, I appears the first turn belongs to me."

"That's fine by me!" Alfred laughed with a goofy grin on his face.

Teresa slowly pulled off the top card from her deck and pulled a different card from her hand, "Then we shall start with this – The spell card, Trade In. So, thanks to the sacrifice of a level eight monster from my hand, I am allowed to draw two cards."

With a swift movement, Teresa dropped the card into her graveyard slot and pulled off two cards from her deck. "I shall then set two cards face down, and set a monster, my turn will end at that."

The cards materialized in front of Teresa and she bowed with her duel disk held away from her. "Now, I believe that it is your turn."

"Of course!" Alfred chuckled, a new card added from the top of his deck. "Now, allow me to show you what I can do – It is only necessary that a duelist give back everything to their opponent…

"And I shall start by summoning Battle Warrior!"

A bright blue light popped in front of Alfred as a large muscular man dressed in a blue jumpsuit with a silver visor over his eyes (700/1000). Alfred and his monster pumped their arms up into the air, "This is a warrior that fights with his bare hands! Perfect opening for this duel!"

"Yes, but what is the point?" Teresa asked as the Battle Warrior continued to strike over the top poses. "While I am not as well versed in all cards, what would summoning him accomplish?"

With his hands at his hips, Alfred laughed loudly before he lifted up another card from his hand. "Quite a bit actually! You see, I need a monster on the field to play a spell card, so long as that monster doesn't have an effect or is an Xyz, Synchro or Ritual monster.

"And that card is Landstar Supply Line!"

Alfred's spell card materialized to show the infamous, little swordsman that a certain luck-stricken duelist used sleeping behind a stand that has a number of famous monsters waiting in line. Two cards popped out from Alfred's deck and he slipped them into his graveyard, "Now, I can send two Landstar from my deck to the graveyard, then I shuffle the deck…"

The duel disk automatically shuffled the deck within it and Alfred pulled off the top two cards from his deck. "And I can add two cards from the top of my deck to my hand!"

Looking at the two cards that he added, Alfred smiled as he turned one of them around, "And now, I'll set two cards face down, and activate Mage Power!"

A powerful gold aura wrapped around the Battle Warrior's body, with his muscles growing and his jumpsuit turning a brilliant gold (700/1000 + 1500/1500). "An older card, but it's still strong! For each spell and trap on my field, he gets empowered by five hundred points! So, let's see what your face down card is capable of!"

Battle Warrior roared loudly before he leapt through the air with the golden energy now focused over his right fist. Teresa didn't make a move as the Battle Warrior landed on the ground and slammed his fist into the set monster. The golden energy surged over the card before a rather goofy looking, blue insect dressed in baggy clothes and a large backpack (that was twice the size as the insect's body) popped in its place (200/700). The Battle Warrior roared before he spun around and delivered a powerful kick to the insect's chest, shattering it.

"And that is how it's done!" Alfred announced, the Battle Warrior flipped back to his side of the field.

However, that's when Alfred noticed that Teresa's deck now glowed with a bright yellow light. "Hmm? I take it your monster had an effect?"

"Magical Merchant does indeed have an effect," Teresa stated as she lifted the top card from her deck and turned it to reveal Tasuke Knight. "I pick up cards from my deck until I come to a spell or trap card…"

Another card was pulled off – Sacred Crane. "Then I can add that card to my hand…"

The next card was revealed – Fairy Archer. "And unfortunately, the others must then be sent to the graveyard."

Teresa flipped another card, and lifted it up to show Guardian Angel Joan. Teresa looked at that card for a moment before she reached for her deck once more, "It's a sacrifice, but a noble sacrifice nonetheless."

When Teresa revealed the next card, it was revealed to have a green bordered card to it – A Feather of the Phoenix. "As it seems I've been blessed…"

"Indeed, but you just milled a good portion of your deck," Alfred stated, his arms crossed as he saw Teresa gently place the four cards she had pulled into her graveyard slot. "Then again, I'm just about to pull off the same move!"

"Excuse me?" Teresa questioned as she added her spell card to her hand.

"Since I possess a Warrior that's equipped," Alfred announced as he turned around one of the remaining three cards from his hand around. "I can play Weapon Trade-In! Now I'll send five equip cards from my deck to the graveyard, each with a different name of course…"

Alfred pulled out his deck and fanned it in front of him, "So, I'll send Magnum Shield, a second Mage Power, United We Stand, Giant Hunter, and Shooting Star Bow – Ceal to the graveyard."

He plucked the five cards from his deck and slipped them into his graveyard slot, and once more, Alfred pulled a sixth card from his deck. "Since I did that, I can remove one Warrior from play and add it to my hand next turn."

"Wouldn't Golden Sarcophagus be a much better choice?" Teresa asked as she watched Alfred pocket the card. "No cost, and you'd just have to wait another turn for your card."

"Perhaps, but I have a reason for this," Alfred stated with a nod. "My turn is over with – Hit me with your best shot!"

"Can you please lower the volume?" Teresa requested, carefully looking at the card she now held before her.

"Sorry, but I can't help it!" Alfred laughed loudly, his arms crossed over his chest. "I've been given the honor of dueling in the first official duel of the year – How could I not be excited?"

Teresa sighed before she placed the card she just drew onto her deck. A powerful burst of light exploded in front of Teresa and from the light stepped an incredibly tall white armored warrior, with partially light blue parts, with bluish flames that warped around his long sword and broad shield (2800/2200).

"GURH!?" Alfred gargled at the sight of the powerful monster that just appeared on the field.

"I see my Lightray Gearfried has garnered your attention," Teresa stated as she closed her eyes. "My warrior of justice, please rid the field of his brutish warrior."

Gearfried lifted his sword up and then faded away. The Battle Warrior readied his fists for the larger warrior to appear, however, Gearfried appeared right in front of the Battle Warrior and slammed his shield into the Battle Warrior with enough force to crush him into the ground at Alfred's feet. "URK!" (ALP: 7400)

"Were you not expecting me to counter like that?" Teresa asked as she gently placed a card on her duel disk and a set monster appeared next to her Gearfried.

"Truthfully, yes," Alfred admitted. The rather loud student cleared this throat garnered his composure to grin at Teresa. "However, the moment you end your turn, I shall repay your strong monster with one of my own."

"Then please," Teresa replied with a bow of her head. "By all means, please show me what you can do."

The students watched as Alfred flicked the top card of his deck and smiled as he reached for his back pocket. "During my stand by phase, my monster is added to my hand. But he won't be there for too much longer. I play my face down card – Mystical Space Typhoon! Blast away the card on the left!"

A powerful storm erupted from Alfred's set card and crashed into Teresa's set card – Revealing Bottomless Trap Hole before it shattered like glass.

Teresa seemed unaffected as Alfred pushed a second button on his duel disk. "Next, I'll activate my other face down spell card – Silent Doom! Return my Battle Warrior!"

The blue jumpsuit wearing warrior appeared back on the field (700/1000) and crossed his arms as he knelt down. "For my next trick, I'll outfit my warrior with Grade Sword!"

A large katana appeared on Battle Warrior's back (700 /1000 + 300/0). "But the attack point bonus isn't what I'm hoping for – It's the effect of my Grade Sword, the equipped monster can be treated as two tributes for a warrior-type monster!"

The Battle Warrior smirked before a surge of energy wrapped over his body. The jumpsuit wearing warrior vanished from the field and in its place was a larger warrior covered with a black armor over his large muscular body. The warrior's face was hidden behind a large, horned mask that had long black hair streaming from it and in the warrior's hands was a large, broad sword (2600/2000). "Gilford the Legend! And when he's summoned, I can equip as many equip cards from my graveyard to a warrior – And I'll choose Gilford himself!"

A large shield appeared on Gilford's back (2600/2000 + 2000/0), followed by a silver aura that erupted over his body, and then a bow appeared at Gilford's side (4600/2000 – 1000/0), and finally a familiar gold aura erupted over Gilford's body (3600/2000 + 2500/0 + 2500/0 = 8600/2000). Alfred smirked as he wagged a finger at Teresa, "In case you don't remember, I just equipped Gilford with Magnum Shield, Giant Hunter, Shooting Star Bow – Ceal and Mage Powe times two! And thanks to this combination, not only is he a titan of power…

"He's a titan who can attack you directly!"

Gilford stabbed his sword into the stage and pulled the bow that was at his side. A golden arrow of energy appeared in his hands and he pulled back on the bow. "Oh, and one more thing, thanks to my Giant Hunter, you can't activate spells and traps until the end of the damage step, so you're about to feel the sting of defeat!"

Gilford released the arrow and shot it towards Teresa who in turn lifted up a card from her hand. The arrow struck the ground at her feet, and engulfed Teresa in an oddly rainbow colored cloud of smoke.

"Hahahaha!" That gleeful laugh of Alfred's echoed through the air. "How was that? Did you enjoy my monster's strong attack? I assure everyone that I will strike at the issues surrounding this school with just as much ferocity and insurance!"

"My, that is quite the promising statement," Teresa stated as the cloud of smoke began to fade away. A warm smile was on her face as her duel disk glowed brightly. "I will pray that your campaign will be successful and righteous." (TLP: 8000)

"M-My attack…?!" Alfred sputtered as he looked at his duel disk. "But… It should've… It should've… You couldn't activate spell or trap cards!"

"And I assure you, I did not," Teresa stated as she pulled a card from her duel disk. "But monster effects are another matter. I suggest that you take a good look at your monster."

Alfred looked to Gilford to see that several, multi-colored lights had wrapped around the mighty warrior's limbs, which prevented him from moving. "G-Gilford?! What happened to him?!"

"Rainbow Kuriboh happened," Teresa answered with a warm smile. "Since you seem to be a fan of equip cards, I thought you would enjoy having a sixth equip card to your Gilford – Although, while equipped to your monster, it can't attack."

Alfred gulped as he looked at the remaining cards in his hand, with his spell and trap card zone now full of equip cards and his OTK monster was now reduced to a wall of attack points.

"Now, since you cannot attack," Teresa stated as she drew from the top of her deck. "And your back row is full, I believe it is my turn, if you have no complaints."

Alfred said nothing as Teresa looked at her card. "While I am not a true fan of this game, even I have to admit that it was rather impressive at how you amassed your one-turn kill: And since you're insistent that duelists need not hold back to each other, allow me return the favor.

"To start this turn, I shall activate my trap card, Reckless Greed."

Teresa's face down card flipped up and a number of coins spilled over the field and she drew two cards from the top of her deck giving her four cards in her hand. "Next, reveal yourself, Skelengel."

The face down monster flipped up and revealed a rather odd creature that was invisible – Save for the crown, gloves, boots, wings and bow that it held (900/400). "This creature allows me to draw once more."

Now with five cards in her hand, Teresa spun one around, "Now, I'll play a Feather of the Phoenix, so by discarding my Kuraz the Light Monarch, I can take any card and place it atop of my deck."

Teresa did so and slipped the card from her graveyard atop of her deck. "And now, I'll activate Monster Gate, relinquishing my Skelengel to use its charms."

"T-That means…" Alfred coughed as the invisible angel faded away. "The card you placed…!"

"Indeed," Teresa announced as she pulled the top card from her deck and slapped it upon her duel disk. A powerful surge of electricity rocketed around the young duelist as she clasped her hands together. "Our father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name…"

Teresa's words were drowned out a the electricity surged and formed into a tall, golden armored being who's body cracked with electricity. At the armored being's back, was a large circlet that had wings attached to the back as it lifted its hands up into the air (2300/3000). "Thank you for gracing us – The Creator."

Alfred gulped at the sight of the creature, but he coughed when he watched Teresa drop a card from her hand and into her graveyard. "Now, I shall use his effect, by discarding Good Goblin Housekeeping, I can special summon… Sacred Crane!"

The Creator brought his hands together and from the light that emerged from his large hands was a beautiful crane that had four wings and a flowing red tail (1600/400). "And thanks to my Crane, I can now draw another card."

Replenishing her hand back to two cards, Teresa nodded and placed one of the cards into her duel disk. "I shall set one card face down and end my turn. I apologize if I didn't live up to your expectations, but I shall more than capable of doing so next turn."

Alfred bit his lower lip as he drew from the top of his deck, and his eyes widened. _'Gah! This card! But I can't use it!'_

With a defeated sigh, Alfred lowered his head, "I… I end my turn."

Teresa pushed up her glasses, "Oh my, whatever happened to that energy you had earlier?"

Teresa reached for her duel disk. "I do apologize, but it shall be my turn, and I reveal my face down monster – Magician of Faith."

The set card vanished and in its place was a young mage with purple hair and a staff that had a moon crest at the end of it (300/400). "Now, I'll add a Feather of the Phoenix back to my hand, but, unfortunately, it shall not remain there for long. I discard it to activate the Creator's ability once more."

The Creator slammed his hands together once more and held his hands up. From the energy that the Creator formed, a tall golden armored warrior appeared on the field with large silver gloves and a flowing gold cape. The warrior sparkled with bright energy as he slammed his fists together (2400/1000). "Kuraz the Light Monarch, and now when it's special summoned, I'll target my Magician of Faith and Sacred Crane: Both of them shall be destroyed and I shall draw one card for each."

Both of the declared monsters faded away as Teresa drew from her deck and looked at the three cards she had. "Unfortunately, Kuraz cannot attack this turn when I use this effect: However, he has another use. I'll activate Galaxy Queen's Light. So, by targeting my level eight Creator, all monsters on my field become that level."

Kuraz and Gearfried transformed into two streams of gold light that flowed through the air as Teresa clasped her hands together. "Now, I'll open the overlay network with Kuraz and my Lightray Gearfried…"

A vortex appeared before Teresa and the two lights crashed into said vortex, which exploded in a flood of energy. A tall, armored warrior stepped from the energy, his silver and gold dragon-like armor glistened in the light as he lifted his large curved blade as the two cape-like wings flowed slightly (2800/1800). Two lights flowed around the warriors body as he lifted his sword up. "Divine Dragon Knight Felgrand, thank you for stepping to the challenge. Now I'll activate your effect, by detaching one overlay unit from him, one monster on the field not only has its effect negated, but it will also be unaffected by other cards."

Teresa smiled as she folded her hands in front of her, "I'll choose Gilford."

Alfred staggered back slightly, he watched as Gilford fall to his knees, all of the weapons fell from his muscular form (8600/2000 – 6000/0).

"Now, Felgrand, slay his Legend," Teresa commanded as she lifted her hand up.

Felgrand nodded before he dashed over the field and slashed Gilford with his mighty blade. The black armored warrior cried out before he shattered into countless pixels. "URK!" (ALP: 7200)

"Next, the Creator," Teresa proclaimed as she lifted her hand up into the air. "Bless Mister Reidsworth with your gracious light!"

The Creator stood tall and lifted his hands up into the air. Electricity surged from his hands, flew through the air and crashed into Alfred's body, forcing him backwards. (ALP: 4900)

"I shall end my turn with one set card," Teresa announced, the face down card materialized before her. And she held her arm away from her body. "Feel free to take your turn, Mister Reidsworth."

Alfred gritted his teeth as he narrowed his eyes at Teresa. However, before he drew, he took a deep breath and smiled brightly, "Whahahahahaha! That's what I was asked for, wasn't it? Then it would be rude if I didn't fight back in turn, wouldn't it?"

With a slight hesitation, Alfred pulled off the top card from his deck and reached for his hand of cards. "First I'll play Dark Factory of Mass Production! So, the two Landstar monsters that I had in my graveyard return to my hand!"

Alfred lifted the cards up from his graveyard and then plucked another card from his hand. "Then, I'll play another spell – Desperado Manager!"

Alfred pulled off the top two cards from his deck and then took three cards from his hand, "So, I'll draw two cards, and then I'll place three cards from my hand back atop of my deck. But, we'll see what I can do when I play Enchanting Fitting Room!"

A large red curtain that had a skull atop of it appear over Alfred's head. "Now, for the mere cost of eight hundred points, I can pick up the top four cards of my deck…" (ALP: 4100)

Four holographic cards appeared over Alfred's head as he picked up the four cards from his deck, "And every level three or lower normal monsters are instantly summoned!"

The cards over Alfred's head turned around and revealed three monsters that definitely fit the qualifications, while the fourth card was Mystical Space Typhoon. Alfred chuckled as he took the three cards and slapped them on his duel disk, "So now I'll summon Knight of Landstar! Grappler of Landstar! And Brigadier of Landstar!"

From the large curtain, three child-like warriors leapt to the field in front of Alfred: One dressed in silver armor armed with a pair of rapiers (1000/1200), a commando dressed in camouflage pants and a beret wielding a knife (1000/500), a fancily dressed gunman with a musket that wore Victorian styled clothes (900/1200). "Of course, Mystical Space Typhoon goes back to the deck, but that's not what I need to worry about!

"Like you, I'll open the overlay network!"

All three of the Landstar monsters nodded to each other before they transformed into streams of light that were drawn into a large vortex. "With relentless courage and never-ending blades, arise to the challenge Kettou Knight!"

The vortex exploded an another warrior graced the stage – This one a silver armored knight who was covered with odd armor that had shoulder pads that were reminiscent of sword hilts, and the same was said for the mask that was over his face. Oddly enough, despite the sword motif, this warrior didn't seem to have a weapon on him (1500/1000), although he did have three lights float around him.

"Oh my, what an odd monster," Teresa stated as she pushed up her glasses with her thumb. "Still, if it required three monsters, it must hold a secret…"

"Not just three monsters, three level three, earth, warrior type monsters," Alfred stated as he slipped a card from his hand into his duel disk. "I'll now outfit Kettou Knight with Fighting Spirit! Now for every monster on your field, my Knight gains three hundred attack points!"

A powerful gold aura erupted over Kettou's body, but was otherwise unaffected (1500/1000 + 600/0). "But I'm not done, not by a longshot! I'll activate his effect! So, by detaching one Overlay Unit from him, I can outfit him with a proper equip card from my graveyard – So Mage Power, return!"

The gold aura surged over Kettou's body, and yet still, the warrior stood still (2100/1000 + 1000/1000).

"I shall use the effect of my own Xyz monster," Teresa announced as the last light around Felgrand slammed into him. "Now your monster's effect is negated and all cards…"

Just as Felgrand lifted his sword up, several rapiers crashed into his blade and forced it up into the air.

"Heh, you're not going to get me with the same trick a second time," Alfred laughed as Kettou Knight cracked his knuckles. "So long as my Kettou Knight has at least one Xyz Material attached to him, he's unaffected by all of your cards' effects – Including your negation effect!"

Alfred lifted his fist up. "Kettou! Slay the Creator!"

The sword themed knight brought his hands together and in his hands appeared two swords. The Kettou Knight dashed over the stage and brought them down on the Creator. "With this, my comeback shall appear!"

A powerful surge of wind dashed through the air and crashed into Kettou Knight, the golden aura around its body fading away rapidly much to Alfred's shock (3100/2000 – 1000/1000). "WHAT?!"

The Creator threw his fist and slammed it into the Knight's body, which knocked it to the ground with the last of its aura disappearing (2100/1000 – 600/0). Alfred's jaw went slack and his eyes widened, "I… What… What just…" (ALP: 3900)

"While your Knight is unaffected by my card effects, the rest of your cards are not," Teresa explained as she gestured towards the set card on her field that had lifted up – Mystical Space Typhoon. "So, I simply destroyed your Mage Power, but of course with your Fighting Spirit, it took the hit for your knight.

"Now, it's still your turn, so please, continue."

Alfred bared his teeth as he looked to his hand. There weren't many options for him – Only two monsters in his hand, so he reached for one and slapped it on his duel disk. "For my normal summon, I'll set one monster face down… And end my turn."

Teresa bowed towards Alfred and smiled. "I still cannot draw thanks to my Reckless Greed – But I shall discard the last card in my hand to use the Creator's effect, revive my Sacred Crane."

Once more, in a bright burst of light, the majestic crane appeared at Teresa's field (1600/400). And the young lass drew from the top of her deck, looking at the card she turned it around, "My apologies Mister Reidsworth, but this 'game' is over with. I activate the spell card: The Warrior Returning Alive, so my Lightray Gearfried returns to my hand…"

And without skipping a beat, Teresa placed the card atop her duel disk and the white armored warrior materialized on the field (2800/2200). "And then, he is returned to my field."

Alfred lifted his duel disk up, as if it was a shield.

But then Teresa sighed, "I apologize for this, Mister Reidsworth – Vide adflictionem meam et laborem meum…"

The Sacred Crane squawked loudly before it flew of the field and crashed into the Kettou Knight, shattering the steel monster into pixels that slammed into Alfred's body. "N-NO!" (ALP: 3800)

"Creator…" Teresa stated.

The large armored deity lifted his hand up into the air, and electricity surged from his hand into the face down monster, revealing a small, kid-like warrior dressed in leather armor (500/1200). The monster yelped out before it shattered like the Kettou Knight, which left him nothing but an empty field.

Alfred watched as Gearfried and Felgrand stood over him, "Now w-wait a minute! This… This isn't right and…"

Teresa clasped her hands together and closed her eyes, "Aufer a me essem in peccatis eius."

Both warriors lifted their swords up into the air and dropped their blades onto Alfred's body and sent the duelist staggering back until he tripped over his feet and landed on his back. "URK!" (ALP: 0)

The students in the hall cheered out the moment that Alfred's life points dropped to zero, and the holographic monsters faded from existence.

Back in the suite box where Akane, Kanji and Tomo were, the three watched in silent at the duel before them.

"W-Woah, that was sick!" Tomo laughed as she slapped her seat a few times with her hand. "That Teresa was wicked!"

"Not even a single life point lost," Kanji muttered before he turned towards Akane. "And yet you managed to defeat a force like that? Yeesh, you're scary."

Akane scowled a little bit at Kanji, but turned back to see that Hamaguchi was handing the young Teresa a small sheet of paper – It was a certificate that was given to the number one Freshmen student at the beginning of the year, a sort of achievement that was given out and to see if the student could maintain it till the end of the year.

"She definitely had the skill to perform like that," Akane answered back. '_But there's something odd about this duelist, that's for sure. She was so distant in this duel and the one back then, but there's more to it, it's like she's pained to play this game…_

'_Teresa Unno… Just who are you?'_

**TTT – TTT **

Hours later, after the opening ceremonies had passed and the welcome dinners were served, many students had retired to their dorms. And while the Red and Yellow Dorms had roommates, the Obelisk Blue dormitory mainly catered to a single person to a single room (it was the largest of the dorms after all).

That's where Teresa was, in her own room – which was bare save for the desk, bed and couch that was provided by the school, along with her personal belongings – One of which was a laptop that had a shadowed figure on it that she was talking to over Skype. "I see, so you were chosen to participate in the opening duel of the year… I was not anticipating that. How are you feeling after that, Teresa?"

"It was an ordeal," Teresa sighed as she looked at the deck of Duel Monster cards on the desk next to the laptop. "I felt regret for hurting Mister Reidsworth and quashing his dream of being on the student council… I made him look like a fool, all for the sake of a children's card game."

"You have no worries, Teresa," The figure replied as he rubbed his chin. "If his resolve was as strong as his attitude that you state, he should be able to recover soon enough. He'll probably see this as a hurdle for his career in the student council – Sometimes from sins, a true good will emerge."

Teresa removed her glasses and rubbed her eyes, "… I trust your words, I believe in the faith from above…"

"Do not let this dim your spirit, Teresa," The figure stated. "The path of righteousness is surrounded with temptation and sin, so long as you remain vigilant to the path, you shall not fall from grace. Believe in your resolve, believe in the words from the blessed and soon we shall bring redemption to the sinners."

Slowly, a smile drew on Teresa's face as she placed her glasses back on her face, "Thank you, Father. Thank you for reaffirming my belief."

"Think nothing of it, my child," Father replied. "Even the strongest of us need to be reminded of our resolve in the bleakest of times. Now, rest, you have an arduous time ahead of you, and the next time I shall contact you, it will be the time to act."

"Yes, Father," Teresa bowed towards the computer screen as it suddenly went black.

Teresa lifted her head up and reached for her desk, and lifted up the certificate that Hamaguchi had given her – Her name well written in fine black ink. Teresa narrowed her eyes and lifted the paper up…

And ripped it to shreds.

"I cast away the temptations for the greater good," Teresa stated as she threw the remains of the certificate into the nearby trashcan. "Father in heaven, please grant me your strength in this time of need…"

TBC

**TTT – TTT**

**Card Stats**

**Knight of Landstar / Earth / LV. 3 / ATK: 1000 / DEF: 1200 / Warrior**

**Description:** A small, child-like knight dressed in silver armor with a pair of swords in his hands

**Grappler of Landstar / Earth / LV 3 / ATK: 1000 / DEF: 500 / Warrior  
Description:** A child-like commando dressed in camouflage pants and a beret wielding a knife.

**Brigadier of Landstar / Earth / LV. 3 / ATK: 900 / DEF: 1200 / Warrior**

**Description:** A fancily dressed, child-like gunman with a musket.

_The preceding three cards were used by Joey in the original Yugioh Anime._

**Desperado Manager / Normal Spell / Effect:** Activate only if you have 1 or more cards in your hand other than this card. Draw 2 cards, then return 3 cards from your hand to the top of your deck.**  
Image:** A large bouncer with his back to a slick black suited manager

_This card was used by Manjoume in the Yugioh GX Anime._

**Grade Sword / Equip Spell / Effect:** Equip only to a Warrior-Type monster. It gains 300 ATK and can be treated as 2 tributes for the Tribute Summon of a Warrior-Type monster.**  
Image:** A fancy katana with a golden hilt.

_This card was used by Houzan Gokaido in the Yu-Gi-Oh! GX anime._

**Giant Hunter / Equip Spell / Effect:** If the equipped monster attacks, your opponent cannot activate Spell/Trap Cards until the end of the Battle Phase. If your Life Points are lower than your opponent's, when the equipped monster that battles the monster, its ATK is halved until the end of the Battle Phase.**  
Image:** Opticlops jumping in pain at the Stinging Swordsman getting his foot.

_This card was used by Yuma in the Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal anime._

**Weapon Trade-In / Normal Spell / Effect:** This card can only be activated while you have a Warrior-Type monster on your side of the field that has an Equip Spell card equipped to it. Send 5 Equip Spell cards with different names from your deck to the graveyard and remove 1 Warrior-Type monster from your deck face down. During your next Standby Phase, add that card to your hand.**  
Image:** Five swords being pawned off to Gilford the Lighting.

_This card was originally used in Duelist Twilight, but has been modified._

**Landstar Supply Line / Normal Spell / Effect:** This card can only be activated while you have at least 1 face up monster that is not an Effect, Xyz, Synchro or Ritual monsters on your side of the field. Send 2 'Landstar' monsters with a different names from your deck to the graveyard. Shuffle your deck and then draw two cards.**  
Image:** The Swordsman of Landstar looking bored behind a stand that has a lot of annoyed monsters standing before him.

**Kettou Knight / Earth / Rank 3 / ATK: 1500 / DEF: 1000 / Warrior/Xyz/Effect:** [3 Level 3 EARTH Normal Warrior-Type monsters] As long as this card has at least one Xyz Material on this card, this card is unaffected by your opponent's card effects. Once per turn, by detaching one Xyz Material, you may select one appropriate Equip Spell from either player's graveyard and equip it to this card. **  
Description:** one a silver armored knight who was covered with odd armor that had shoulder pads that were reminiscent of sword hilts, and the same was said for the mask that was over his face

**TTT – TTT **

**Faust: Well, that was unique… Not as weird as Styx, but still weird…**

**Kaito: Hmm, ya know, speaking of Styx – we should probably have a little pow-wow about that!**

**Faust: Huh?! What the heck are you talking about?!**

**Kaito: C'mon! Ya can't tell me that you're not curious about that coward!**

**Faust: … Coward…**

**Kaito: So! C'mon! Let's talk battle strategy!**

**Faust: Not interested.**

**Kaito: What?! Why not!?**

**Faust: Well, you seem to have attracted the attention of someone else…**

**Kaito: Eh?**

_**Next time on Burning Blood Academy Days**_

_**Draw 3**_

_**Dust Knight**_

**?: Ready your deck, your soul and your life – We're going through a duel like no other!**

**Kaito: Heh… If I have to get through you to get to Faust, then so be it! I won't hold back!**

**?: I expect nothing less! I gotta keep my dueling skills sharp, especially if I want to not fall behind 'her'.**

**Kaito: Her?**


	3. Draw 3 - Dust Knight

_**Draw 3**_

_**Dust Knight**_

**TTT – TTT **

Kaito Shishio.

He was a duelist who was of few words; he was raised on tropical islands ever since he could remember, just as long as he held a love of dueling.

Kaito Shishio.

He was now a part of the prestigious Duel Academia – The best place for where a student who had dreams of becoming a great duelist. Through hard work and determination, anyone could become a great duelist.

"Kaito Shishio…"

He was currently sleeping in class, and the teacher of that class loomed over him while the fiery haired teen. The teacher was a skinny, tall man with billowing green hair that was combed to the side and a beak like nose that gave the glare that the professor had even more daunting.

However, that glare wasn't enough to wake up the sleeping Osiris Red, so taking the book that he had in his hands, the professor slammed his book onto Kaito's desk – Which effectively managed to wake up the hot blooded duelist, "GAH! I'M AWAKE!"

"Good to know, Mr. Shishio," the professor cleared his throat. "Perhaps then you can answer the question I posed to you?"

"Uh, well… Maybe," Kaito chuckled with a large smirk on his face, along with a blush over his face. "Was the answer… Uh, Professor Kurtis, well… Was it nineteen eighty-nine?"

"Listen Mr. Shishio," Professor Kurtis growled as he lifted up his book. "Two things, one, you should address me as Professor Mistral, you call me by my first name again, and I'll make sure you'll spend the next three weeks in detention.

"And two, next time pay attention in class – The year that the Berlin Wall fell was…"

Professor Mistral looked at his book and then sighed before he closed it. "Nineteen eighty-nine. Well, I guess that makes me the one to eat crow…"

Kaito smiled brightly as he gave a nearby classmate a peace sign for victory.

"But don't think that it'll be easy next time," Professor Mistral growled before he walked away down the steps of the large classroom. "Now, everyone, let's go to the next lesson, please turn to page one seventy three in your text books and we will continue your history lesson."

From one of the upper seats in the classroom, Faust gritted his teeth at the sight of Kaito. Then with a sigh, Faust pushed up his glasses and turned back to his notebook, working on a few sketches that he had hidden within the pages. '_I don't even know why I even bothered coming to this school… So far this is just like a regular high school, only with a dueling theme to it. _

'_I probably would've been better off staying in juvie.'_

Faust continued with his sketching, ignoring the lecture that was being spoken out. '_A week since I boarded that ship and got here… And so far, I've been only able to mess with my uniform and get a bunch of ugly stares…'_

Indeed, like Kaito had done to his jacket, Faust had modified his own uniform jacket. The only difference was that he had actually dyed the jacket black with yellow trim, kept the sleeves, and added a chain around the collar so he could have it rest on his shoulders. He also wore his previous black school uniform underneath it, with the only substitution being that he replaced the black pants with a pair of white shorts.

Needless to say, but the teachers and faculty weren't too happy about the blatant alteration of his uniform, however, due to a loophole in the rules – So long as the original uniform is used, the student is capable of modifying it to his or her liking. And since it was definitely the same piece of fabric he got when he first joined the academy, they couldn't touch Faust.

DING DONG DANG DONG!

Faust lifted his head up from his sketches when he heard the bell.

"Alright, that's enough for my class today," Professor Mistral announced as he closed his book. "Read chapter seven for your homework tonight – And remember, next week we'll have our first quiz, so make sure that you prepare yourselves. I'll be quizzing you all on everything we learned thus far.

"Now don't be late for your next class – So, get out of here."

Faust sighed as he gathered his belongings, the rest of the class already starting to leave the classroom. '_And so – We continue the mundane high school life.'_

"Oi! Faust-kun!"

The white haired duelist stopped in his tracks and spun around to see Kaito now standing behind him… With his notebook filled with sketches opened for the wild duelist to see. "Damn man, you've got some nice things in this notebook… Totally unexpected of a guy like you."

"Urk!" Faust growled before he snapped the notebook from Kaito. "I thought I put that damn thing in my bag!"

"It just slipped from your bag," Kaito replied with a large smirk on his face as Faust stuffed the notebook into his bag. "No need to act like that – That stuff in there is really good! Heck, I bet you could become a manga-ka if you wanted to."

"Is there a point to this conversation?" Faust sighed, now completely sure that he had his notebook tucked away.

"Yeah, there is," Kaito answered, his brow now narrowed down at the white haired duelist. "We need to talk 'bout Styx and that duel on the ship."

"… What about it?" Faust retorted, his back still turned towards Kaito.

"W-What about it?" Kaito mimicked Faust's question. "Yeesh, are those glasses just for show? We need to talk about it! That Styx guy may have been a coward, but we need to do something about that gas mask wearing freak! He came after us, and who knows if he'll…"

"What's the point?" Faust answered back. "It's not like if anyone would believe that there's a duelist who can freeze time and perform freakin' stunts you could only see in a damn anime. I barely believe that myself. And what do you expect us to do about it?"

"We prepare ourselves," Kaito stated as a matter of fact. "After all, jerks like that don't just stop at the first try – Especially if they act like cowards and run from the duel. Trust me, guys like that don't just go away."

"And they're like roaches," Faust commented. "If you see one, there's probably more that we're not seeing."

Kaito smiled as he walked up to Faust, "So, you know what I'm talking about. Then there's no reason for us to do something about that jerk – And like you said, who knows if he's acting alone, there could be an army or something full of jerks!"

"… And that's why I'm getting out of this," Faust spat back before he began to walk off.

"Huh?" Kaito sputtered. "Wait… Why?! You made a point about how bad this could get, how there could be more of Styx, and you're just going to walk away?!"

"… Screw this," Faust growled. "I don't have time to deal with you - I've had a bad last couple days, and I don't need to deal with a headache like you."

And with that, Faust walked away from Kaito and out of the classroom, leaving the red haired duelist in the classroom to bare his teeth. "Damn it! I'm gonna have to beat some sense into that emo idiot…"

Kaito dashed from the classroom, unaware that Professor Mistral was in the room for the entire conversation that took place between his students. He rubbed his chin as he closed his eyes, _'Gas mask, a guy named Styx, and the ability to freeze time… Hmm, I should find more information before I report to the Chancellor.'_

"Good afternoon, Professor Mistral…"

The hook nosed professor lifted his head up to see Teresa step into the classroom from the ground floor, when she was near the professor's desk, she bowed slightly. "Ah, Miss Unno, early as usual."

"Of course," Teresa answered back before she headed towards her seat. '_… I remember those two voices – The same two who were the ones who were on the boat. Hmm, they have potential.'_

**TTT – TTT **

Duel Academy Island had grown over the years, practically evolving into a small city itself. Movie theatres, various stores and other facilities were added to the island paradise in order to provide funds for the school – There were even hotels in place so that tourist could visit the campus, after all, it was an island paradise.

However, this made it a bit more difficult for students – Since it provided more distractions from their studies, then again, everyone needs to be able to relax in their own way. For Kanji, that was looking through the local clothing store to burn the afternoon oil, checking all of the large coats they had. "Hmm… Nope, too dark for my tastes…"

Picking up another coat, Kanji narrowed his eyes at the pink material that had a black cross embroidered on the back of it. "Hmm, awesome design, but the coloring isn't really my style… I wonder if Tomo would like this thing… Then again, she'd probably get the wrong idea…"

A large blush crept on the pompadour duelist's face and a large grin grew, "Now… If Akane were to get the wrong idea like that… Hehehehe…"

Kanji lifted his hand up and slapped his face, "No! I need to win her over the right way! If I can't, then I'm not allowed to have her admiration!"

Placing the coat back on the rack, Kanji sighed loudly and cracked his neck. "I think I'm good with my current attire selection for now…"

The Ra Yellow student headed out of the store and into the faux streets of the island – It was technically a street since there were sidewalks and a road in the middle of it, but the only thing that usually drove on the road was the occasional carts that the staff used to transport materials.

Not that Kanji really cared about that.

He always enjoyed walking late in the afternoon, good exercise and the cool ocean breeze was always quite refreshing. And since at this time, most students were just getting out of their classes, the streets were still pretty much cleared for a little while longer. Being a second year, Kanji managed to get enough credits in so he could have the last period off from classes, and he essentially just enjoyed his free time at his leisure.

'_Hmm… I wonder if I should get a frozen yogurt or something,' _Kanji thought to himself as he threw his arms behind his head. '_I should get something sweet to eat before I get into my homework for the…'_

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

Kanji nearly leapt out of his skin when he heard that scream echo behind him. The pompadour styled Ra Yellow student spun around to the alleyway that he had just passed and ran in between the buildings. When he did, Kanji had to step back slightly at the sight before him.

A shadowy figure stood over a knocked out Obelisk Blue male student. The shadowy figure cackled at the sight of the blood that seeped from the student's head and began to reach down towards the student…

"OI!" Kanji roared as he dashed towards the shadowy figure. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!?"

The shadowy figure lifted its head up and immediately ducked to dodge Kanji's punch, which sailed through the air until his fist connected with the nearby wall.

WHAM!

Much to the surprise of the shadowy figure, Kanji's fist slammed through the concrete wall with a large amount of cracks that webbed through the tough material. Kanji quickly pulled his fist out of the wall to reveal that there was only a couple of bruises on his knuckles, "Fast little bastard, aren't ya?"

The shadowy figure nodded before he turned around and ran off, much to Kanji's surprise, "Hey! You lousy…"

"Ugh…"

Kanji turned back to the student who was on the ground and growled when he realized that the shadowy figure disappeared from his sight. With a sigh, Kanji knelt down and grabbed his cellphone with his free hand, "Look, you'll be alright. Just hang in there!"

When Kanji lifted his phone up, he began to speak, "Yeah! Campus security? We've got an incident here! We'll need medical transport at…"

Kanji stopped for a second and noticed that grasped in the student's hands was a pair of coke bottle glasses that had a large crack in one of the lenses. '_Well… That's odd…'_

The voice on the other end of his phone garnered Kanji's attention, "Uh, y-yeah! I'm still here! Let me tell ya where we are!"

**TTT – TTT **

"So… This is the Ra Yellow dorm…"

Kaito stood in front of the large yellow colored, mansion-like building. He took note of all the yellow dressed students about the dorm's grounds, some of them studying, others chatting, and others just hanging around to kill the remainder of the day.

After classes has let out, Kaito had tried to find a certain glasses wearing duelist, but since they only shared the history class, it was difficult for him to track down Faust. So, he figured that he'd be able to find the emo student at the very place where Faust lived – After all, where better to look than the place where all his stuff was?

"Hey! Red!"

"Hmm?" Kaito mused as he turned to the side to see a group of Ra Yellow male students behind him. "I'm guessing since I've got the only red vest here, you're talking to me?"

"Yeah, you lost?" The lead Ra Yellow asked, stepping forward with his hands on his hips. "We tend to get a lot of first year reds around here – Either they get lost or they want to marvel what they could've had if they studied a bit harder at the entrance exams.

"We're more than willing to escort you back to the Red Dorms…"

The other two Ra Yellows surrounded Kaito, one of them stretched his arms while the other cracked his knuckles. The lead Ra Yellow smiled warmly and wagged a finger at Kaito's face, "But, we 'll have to damage the goods a little bit – Think of it as some compensation for our services."

It was then that the Ra Yellow's compatriots placed their hands on Kaito's shoulders, and he smirked, "Hmm, ya know, this technically makes what I'm about to do perfectly legal…"

"Huh?" The Ra Yellow leader questioned.

Meanwhile, inside the Ra Yellow dorm…

Kanji sighed loudly as he plopped himself down onto one of the main lobby's couches and ran a hand through his pompadour. An hour had passed when he came across the incident and he had given his statement to campus security, and it was tiring. '_I wonder what the hell that was about – The last thing this island needs is someone going about and attacking others. I need talk to Akane and Tomo about this matter, cause if stuff like this will happen, then the school's gonna be in trouble._

'_Still, there's also the matter of those glasses – When I was waiting for campus security, I took look at the student's ID, his picture didn't list him as having glasses. So, the only logical reason is that he grabbed them from the attacker and the assailant was trying to get them back, so they must be pretty damning evidence…'_

That's when the doors to the Ra Yellow dorm opened up and Kaito strolled in, dusting off of his vest and arms. "Ah, that was a good work out, I guess. Maybe a warm up would be a better description..."

Of course, the sight of an Osiris Red student entering the Ra Yellow dorm was enough to garner Kanji's attention. But unlike other Ra Yellow students, Kanji didn't care to mess with someone just because they wore red – Heck, Tomo was one of his best friends, and she was in the red dorm.

Still, it was rather odd to see a Red student at the Yellow dorm.

Kanji just shrugged and threw his arms behind his head. '_Now then… Back to my train of thought, the glasses most likely belong to the culprit. If I assume that they belong to the perp, then if I could find the guy they belong to, then we'll have the culprit… After all, coke bottle glasses that hide the eyes completely can't be that common on the island...'_

"Hey man!"

Kanji's attention was drawn away from his thoughts once again, this time the same Red student who had drawn his attention earlier now stood in front of the pompadour-styled Ra Yellow. "Hate to bug ya, but I've got someone I need to find, and you look to be the kind of guy who can help me!"

Kanji sighed before he stood up, "Well, I was kind of busy with my thoughts, but sure, what ya need?"

"Whew," Kaito sighed with relief as he wiped some sweat from his brow. "Finally, a Ra Yellow that's reasonable – I've been dealing with a lot of stuff, and let me tell ya, it's nice to see a friendly student."

"Tell me about it," Kanji replied as he crossed his muscular arms over his chest. "So, what do ya need?"

"Well, I'm looking for a specific guy," Kaito answered as he messed up his hair. "He's a lanky looking guy with wild white hair, has a dyed black uniform jacket that he wears like a yankee would wear their uniform, and has these large, glasses that look like they're fogged over."

Kanji raised an eyebrow slightly, and rubbed his chin, '_Could it be possible?'_

"Hmm, tell me something," Kanji muttered with a smirk. "What's this guy's name?"

"He calls himself Faust," Kaito answered as he returned his hair back to its original messy state.

"Faust? Really?" Kanji questioned with a raised brow. "You mean, like the guy who made a pact with the devil? That's his real name?"

"I don't know," Kaito replied with a shrug. "I'm trying to find the guy cause we got some issues that we need to discuss, and he's being a jerk not trying to do anything about it."

Kanji rubbed his chin. '_The thick glasses comment got me thinking – And while I don't want to suspect anyone from my dorm, I don't really have a choice here…'_

"Unfortunately, I don't know any Faust," Kanji answered as he lifted his hands up. "But I'm more than capable to help you out – You see, you may not now this, but my name is Irving Kanji, and with that name, there's a bunch that I can do. I could look up records for the student roster, they always have pictures along with student profiles. We look at them, and you can tell me who this Faust is."

"Really?! That's awesome!" Kaito laughed out with a large smile on his face and his arm pumped up into the air. "So, lead the way my friend!"

However, Kanji just stood there, with his arms crossed.

"Uh, shouldn't you show the way?" Kaito questioned, his arm slowly lowering along with his spirits.

"Should I?" Kanji replied with a quizzical look on his face. "Hmm, I don't know – I mean, I'm technically not allowed to show the roster to other students, especially those of other dorms. And you gave me a basic description of this 'Faust', so I could look him up myself. I've got a few questions for the guy myself."

"How could you have questions?" Kaito retorted with his eyes narrowed at the taller student. "You just said that you didn't know the guy!"

"That is actually none of your concern," Kanji answered as he lifted a finger up towards Kaito. '_Something's wrong here… Something really wrong. The pieces are lining up too good and too quickly – I need to get to the bottom of this, and quick.'_

Kaito slapped Kanji's hand to the side and pumped his fist up towards Kanji, "Alright, then I guess you leave me no choice! I'll force ya to take me with ya!"

A small chuckle slipped from Kanji's mouth as he blinked a few times at Kaito, "Oh? And what makes you think that you can force me to do anything, kid?"

"Simple, I'll duel you into submission!" Kaito roared as he pulled his duel disk out from the back of his belt. "We'll duel, I win, you take me with you to see where Faust is!"

Kanji raised an eyebrow at the challenge, and then smirked. "Oh, and why should I agree to such a duel? After all, only you would benefit from a win on this."

"Simple," Kaito replied as he slipped his duel disk on. "You win? You get the prestigious honor of saying you once defeated the world's greatest duelist!"

For a moment, Kanji stared at the odd duelist before him and then erupted into a hearty laugh, "BWAHAHAHAHAAAA!"

"Oi, what's so funny!?" Kaito barked as he waved his arm up and down.

'_I can see it… I can see something here,'_ Kanji thought to himself as he stilled his laughter and crossed his arms. '_This new student, I can tell there's something here that I haven't seen since last year – I wonder…'_

"You know what? You're on!"

Kaito smirked. "Alright then! Get your deck and duel disk! And let's throw down!"

From his coat, Kanji pulled out an empty duel disk and slipped it over his left arm. After he did, Kanji began to walk over to the other side of the lobby, "Although, you'll have to forgive me. My real deck is still in the works, I need a couple of other cards before I can fully complete it."

"Heh, so long as you fight with everything you got," Kaito replied as he slipped his deck into the duel slot. "Then it doesn't matter what cards you use! It isn't the cards that make the duelist, but how the duelist uses the cards he has!" (KaiLP: 8000)

"Good saying," Kanji replied as he gripped the sides of his coat. "The only question is… Which weapon should I use against you?!"

Kanji pulled his coat open to reveal that there was a vest underneath it, with six deck cases strapped to it. Kaito smiled brightly, revealing the fang at the side of his mouth, "Use whatever deck you feel like, Kanji-san! I'll burn through everything!"

For a moment Kanji chuckled before he pulled a deck from one of the slots, "Interesting phrase, very well, I got my deck for ya!" (KanLP: 8000)

"_**DUEL!"**_

That word echoed through the lobby, and every Ra Yellow who was in the vicinity turned to see the two duelists prepared to lock horns on the dueling field. Both of their duel disks hummed to life and both of them drew their opening five card hands.

"Hey… Kanji's dueling!"

"YEAH!"

"And it's against an Osiris Red!"

"Ooh! I wonder if he's gonna trounce him!"

"Huh?" Kaito questioned when he realized that a large crowd of Ra Yellow students now circled the dueling field. "What's all this?"

"Heh, I told you my name, Red," Kanji replied as he raised a finger at Kaito. "But I didn't tell you my title – I am Irving Kanji, the Banchou of Ra Yellow! Every second and third year in Ra Yellow sees me as an ally, a friend! And I intend on doing the same with this new crop – Cause ya see, I'm not just any Ra Yellow duelist…

"I'm the top Ra Yellow around!"

Kaito's eyes bugged out before he lowered his head slightly, his red hair covered the top of his face for a few seconds before he took a deep breath and laughed loudly with his head held high. "Good! You'll have to be at the top of this dorm in order to keep up with me! It has to be this way!"

'_Not even a bit of hesitation,' _Kanji thought to himself as he drew a sixth card from his deck. "Hope you don't mind, but I'll be taking the first turn."

Kanji fanned the six cards before him and nodded as he plucked three cards to slip them into his duel disk. The three cards materialized before him, "Three set cards! And that's my turn!"

Kaito blinked a few times as he drew, "Ya know, you're allowed to play more than just spells and traps…"

"So true," Kanji replied with a shrug. "However, think of it like this – If you're really gonna be the best duelist in the world, you're going to have to get by everything that I've got."

"That's not going to be a problem!" Kaito barked as he threw a card into his duel disk. A loud roar echoed through the air as a card popped from his deck, "I play the spell card – Roar of the Beast King! Now, by sending Assault Lion to the graveyard, I can destroy one spell or trap card on your field!

"I choose the middle card on your field! And by the way, you can't activate that card in response to…"

"No, but I can activate others!" Kanji roared himself as he pushed a button on his duel disk. "I play my counter Trap – Big Red Bull's Eye!"

The left most card on Kanji's field flipped up and then faded as a large dart board appeared on his right most card. "So, for a grand of life points, I can change the target of your effect! So, I'll choose my other face down card!" (KanLP: 7000)

Kaito tilted his head slightly and shrugged, "Whatever! I'll still blow up your set card!"

Indeed, Kanji's face down card shook before it shattered into millions of shards. And Kaito had a large grin plastered over his face, "Ha! Well, two of your face down cards are gone!"

"Yes, but didn't you think that maybe I wanted my face down cards destroyed?" Kanji suggested as he slipped a card from his deck to his hand. "That face down card you destroyed was my Duston Roller, now I can add one Duston card from my deck to my hand! And I choose House Duston!"

"Duston?" Kaito questioned as he rubbed the back of his head. "Can't say I ever heard of that…"

"I wouldn't expect you to," Kanji smirked wildly. "They're not known for their strength, but they're just as Dangerous as Ojamas if played right…"

"Well then, it wouldn't be interesting if you couldn't bring the best out of your cards," Kaito replied as he lifted a card up. "So, how 'bout I show ya a couple of my monsters! I summon Magitechquipped Warrior Terriger!"

In a burst of light, a lean warrior appeared before Kaito, his tiger themed armor glistening in the light as he struck a dramatic pose (1800/1200). "And when this guy is summoned, I can bust out another monster from my hand, and I call Vorse Raider!"

An evil cackle echoed through the hall as the diabolic monster appeared on the field, his curved axe held over his odd, horned helmet (1900/1200). However, the beast crossed his arms and knelt down. "Of course, I have summon him in defense mode, but that's no problem."

'_I see, he's going to Xyz Sumon,' _Kanji thought to himself. '_After all, he's got two level four monsters out on the field. I just wonder what he's going to summon…'_

"Terriger! Direct attack!"

"Huh?" Kanji yelped as the white armored warrior leapt up through the air towards him. '_He's not Xyz summoning!?'_

Terriger landed on the ground before Kanji, the white armored warrior pulled his fist back just as Kanji pushed a button on his duel disk. "I play my trap card – One Star Defender!"

A large star appeared before Kanji, which blocked Terriger's attack while Kanji slapped a card onto his duel disk, "This trap card can only be activated when you declare a direct attack, now I can special summon a level one monster from my hand – So, arise House Duston!"

In a puff of smoke, five small creatures appeared, each of them odd looking, colorful critters that just floated about (0/1000).

"Yeah, so you got a monster," Kaito replied as he pumped his fist. "That's not gonna stop Terriger! Smash his monster!"

The tiger armored warrior slammed his fist into the small group of monsters and sent them flying through the air. (KanLP: 5200)

"Wait, it was in attack mode?" Kaito questioned with a tilt of his head. "Why would you do that?"

Kanji snapped his fingers, and three Duston that were in front of him a few seconds ago, reappeared before him – a red one with sharp teeth and two horns that resembled large eyebrows (0/1000), a green Duston with a large smile, one eye and one horn (0/1000), and a yellow Duston with a 'Y' shaped horn on its face (0/1000). "Well, you see, when my Duston is destroyed, I can summon as many Duston to the field…

"And not just my field."

Kaito looked down to see that the Red Duston (0/1000), Green Duston (0/1000) and Blue Duston (0/1000) struck a pose on his field. "Huh?! On my side?!"

"Yes, I thought you'd enjoy having three extra monsters," Kanji replied with a shrug of his shoulders.

"Yeah, but I can still use them!" Kaito announced as he lifted up a card from his hand. "Cause now I'll…"

"End your turn," Kanji interrupted with his arms crossed.

"Huh?" Kaito muttered as tried to fit a card into his duel disk…

BEEEP!

"What the?!" Kaito yelped.

"It's the second effect of my One Star Defender," Kanji replied as he wagged a finger. "For you see, when you destroy the monster that I summoned it with, your turn is instantly ended."

"No fair!" Kaito huffed out, stamping his foot against the town a few times.

Kanji only smiled as he drew from the top of his deck. A large smirk appeared on his face as he slipped a card into his duel disk, "To start, I'll play Pride of the Weak!"

The green bordered card appeared in front of Kanji, displaying a Skull Servant appearing in a cloud of smoke, "But we'll get to that later, next I'll summon White Duston in attack mode!"

A cloud of dust popped in front of Kanji and immediately a fourth Duston materialized in front of him, this one a pure white monster with a ring sticking out of its head (0/1000).

"Then, I'll set one card," Kanji continued as the second to last card in his hand appeared on the field. "And now… Time for the big guns!"

All four of the Duston on Kanji's field nodded to each other before they leapt up into the air and began to merge into a large clump of dark energy. "I culminate all of the Duston on my field… In order to bring out the star of this deck!"

"The dark energy exploded into a galaxy of energy that formed into a gigantic monster that was similar to the Duston that came before it, only to have a body that was shaped into a star-like pattern with a star-like horn with fang-like teeth under its large eyes. The large monster landed on the ground behind Kanji and struck a dynamic pose (?/?). "Starduston!

"And for every Duston that was used to summon him, he becomes stronger!"

The Red, Yellow, Green and White Dustons appeared around the Starduston, admiring the enlarged monster as it flexed its short arms (4000/4000). "Now then, I think it's only fair that I give you a taste of my own power – Starduston! Attack Red Duston on his field!"

The smaller Duston yelped loudly when it realized that the larger Duston's eyes turned towards it. The Starduston smirked before it leapt into the air, almost touching the tall ceiling of the Ra Yellow Dorm's lobby, and then immediately belly flopped onto the screaming Red Duston. The force was enough to make Kaito stagger backwards at the impact. "URK!" (KaiLP: 4000)

"And then there's Red Duston's effect!" Kanji announced as the card flew from Kaito's duel disk and into his hands. "When destroyed, you take five hundred points of damage!"

Kaito grimaced as a small explosion popped over his body, making him stagger back slightly. (KaiLP: 3500)

"Now my Pride of the Weak activates," Kanji announced as he pulled two cards from the top of his deck. "Since a level two or lower monster toppled one of your monsters and sent it to the graveyard, even if the monster I gave you was mine, I get to draw two cards from my deck."

Kanji lifted the two cards up to his eyes to get a good look at them and smiled before he slipped them into his duel disk. "And both of them will go to the field. So, tell me Red… What do you think of this duel so far?"

Kaito took a deep breath and threw his head back. "Well… Let me tell ya…"

The red haired duelist snapped his head back up straight to reveal the wild smile on his face. "I'm having a blast! You're really giving me your all! And I love it!"

Kanji blinked a few times before he smiled himself and pumped his arm up towards Kaito. "Yes! That's how a duel should feel! Take notes my friends! This Red duelist… No… Hey! Tell me your name!"

Striking a dynamic pose, Kaito threw his hand forward with a thumb up, "The name's Shishio Kaito! With a burning heart and boundless ambition, I am the Lion of the East! And when I roar, this entire island will quake and know that it is my dueling spirit!"

The Ra Yellows all looked at each other and then back to Kanji who had relaxed his pose, but still kept his smile on his face, "Kaito Shishio… Kaito Shishio… Yes! Everyone! Remember this Osiris Red's name! He has the one thing that most duelists these days lack – Soul!

"So we'll see if his soul can overcome my own! Bring it on, Kaito Shishio!"

"I won't disappoint!" Kaito roaed as he drew from the top of his deck. "Watch out! My turn!"

"And with your turn, I'll play my two trap cards!" Kanji announced as both of his face down cards lifted up, which forced the Vorse Raider to stand up. "Final Attack Orders and Anti-Spell Fragrance! So, you can't defend and thanks to my Fragrance, you can't activate spells without setting them first. And I should point out that thanks to my Starduston, you can't activate any set Spell or Trap cards!

"You also can't flip summon or special summon monsters, just thought I'd let ya know."

"Maybe, but that won't stop me from summoning this!" Kaito shouted back as he slapped a card onto his duel disk, giving him only four cards left in his hand. "I summon Master of the Underdog!"

A rather lonely harmonica song echoed through the air as the loner from the Heart of the Underdog casually walked past the Ra Yellow Students and onto Kaito's field, continuing to play his harmonica, despite the presence of the far stronger Starduston, the Master of the Underdog didn't even bother to stop his playing (1400/1000).

"And, I'll set one card," Kaito announced as the face down card materialized behind his five monsters. "Turn end!"

"You know that your set card won't save you," Kanji pointed out as he drew from his deck. "Dunno why you bothered to set it."

"Who knows?" Kaito replied with a shrug. "Maybe I just like to cling to hope, ya never know."

'_Hmm, I wonder,' _ Kanji thought to himself. '_Where's that confidence coming from? Is his face down card a card that activates upon destruction? If that's the case, then all I have to do is not destroy it.'_

"I'll set the card I just drew face down."

The set card materialized in front of Kanji, completely filling up his back row. Then the Banchou of Ra Yellow lifted his hand up into the air, "And now, time to end this! Starduston! Smash Green Duston!"

The gigantic Duston flew up into the air once more to slam into the smaller monster. And then, the Starduston plummeted towards the smaller duston.

But before it could reach the smaller monster, a powerful flame erupted between both of the Dustons, which knocked the Starduston away. Kanji staggered back when his titanic monster flew back to his field, "W-What the?! How did you… How…"

The flames roared before they transformed into a large canine shaped fire creature that snarled loudly. Kaito lifted two cards up from his hand, "Heh, you can stop me from summoning, you can stop me from playing spells and traps, but you can't stop my duelist spirit!

"That includes Burning Target Fevor – Inumaru! When you attack while I've got two normal monsters on the field, I can discard him and another card from my hand to not only negate the attack, but also end your battle phase!"

"But you don't have two Normal monsters!" Kanji growled as he pointed towards Kaito's duel disk. "The only Normal monster is Vorse Raider and…"

"And my Master of the Underdog counts as a normal monster!" Kaito laughed his hands on his hips. "His first effect treats him as a normal monster for the purpose of determining card effects, and that includes Inumaru!"

"Heh, not bad, not bad at all, Kaito Shishio!" Kanji laughed loudly as he crossed his arms. "You've certainly got a bag of tricks to your name, don't ya?"

"I'm only getting started!" Kaito roared as he pulled off the top card from his deck. "For my next trick, I'm taking down your giant dust bunny!"

Kanji only laughed loudly before he threw his fist up towards Kaito, "Then by all means… Show me what you got!"

"What I got is this!" Kaito replied as both his Vorse Raider and Terriger transformed into two orbs of light. "I release my monsters in order to summon my strongest monster in my deck!"

The orbs of light erupted into a powerful tower of flames. From the flames a massive golden lion with a mane of flickering fire stepped onto the field, its iron claws dug into the yellow carpeting of the lobby (3000/1800). "The beast that can stand up to the legendary white dragon – The King of the Veldt!"

'_Not even a flinch,'_ Kanji thought as he looked to his duel disk. The two face down cards he had set were still on the field. '_He's not afraid of my face down cards – For all he knows, they could be Mirror Force, Bottomless Trap Hole or… I guess that doesn't matter to him. _

'_I wonder… Can he sense my bluffs?'_

"King of the Veldt!" Kaito roared as he threw his fist forward. "Attack his Starduston!"

Most of the Ra Yellows were confused with what the red duelist was doing, but watched as the lion charged over the field towards the larger Starduston.

"Now I'll activate my trap…" Kaito started.

"You can't!" One of the Ra Yellows shouted out. "Thanks to Starduston, you can't activate your face down!"

"From my graveyard!" Kaito roared as he pulled two cards from his graveyard slot. "Claws of the Beast King can only be activated when a Normal monster battles another monster, so by removing my trap and one normal monster from my graveyard, I can increase my King's attack by the same amount as my Vorse Raider!"

The flames over the King of the Veldt's body erupted into a bluish flame (3000/1800 + 1900/0) as it pounced towards the surprised Starduston. The larger creature attempted to throw a defensive punch towards the lion, only to have its attack fly right past the lion's head and get the claws of the beast dug into his body.

When the King of the Veldt pinned the enlarged Duston to the ground, roared loudly and shattered the large monster into millions of smaller Dustons that scattered through the air. (KanLP: 4300)

Kanji blinked when he realized that his empowered monster was no more. But then a smirk appeared on his face, '_He managed to get past it… He got past it through shear force of will. Impressive.'_

"Now, since your big dust bunny's gone," Kaito announced as he pushed a button on his duel disk. "I can play my trap card – Birthright! Return to the field, Assault Lion!"

As Kaito's face down card lifted up, the ground opened up to allow the black furred, armored, lion man to step out onto the field (2600/2500). Kaito threw his fist forward, "Assault Lion! Take him down!"

The large beast-warrior charged over the field towards Kanji, its mighty and large fist pulled back. Kanji pushed a button on his duel disk just as the fist was about to collide with him and he threw his own hand up to catch the attack. "I activate Defense Draw! So the damage is dropped to zero for this attack!"

When Assault Lion's fist collided with Kanji's open hand, the rush of air from the two flew through the lobby and forced a few of the spectating Ra Yellows to stagger back slightly. Even the Assault Lion was surprised when Kanji blocked his attack, and even more so when Kanji slammed his foot into the giant fist and knocked it back.

With the lion no longer in front of him, Kanji plucked a card from the top of his deck. '_Well, hello there…'_

"Don't think you're outta this yet!" Kaito snarled as the Master of the Underdog pocketed his harmonica. "Let's see you handle this attack!"

The Master of the Underdog dashed over the field and spun around to deliver a powerful kick to Kanji. The larger Ra Yellow student took a deep breath and stuck his chest out, taking the kick directly to his pecs.

WHAM!

The Master of the Underdog's eyes widened and he fell to the ground to clutch his right knee, doing his best to hold back his tears. (KanLP: 2900)

"Yeesh, what the hell are you made out of? Iron?" Kaito asked his Master of the Underdog casually walked back to his side of the field.

Kanji slammed his fist into his chest a few times, "Hey, give me some credit. I didn't earn the title 'Banchou of Ra Yellow' just because I have a pompadour."

Some Ra Yellows whistled innocently when Kanji made that comment, which made the muscular student narrow his eyes a bit. "… I earned it because I trained hard and earned the respect of my peers here at Ra Yellow last year.

"Something you can do as well, Mister Lion of the East. In any case, as for how I got my body to be this tough, you can thank my dad for that, whenever he's not on the road giving his own personal training sessions for who knows what, he's training me and my siblings if we want to – And let me tell ya, I've been to hell and back with those!"

Kanji lifted his arms up and flexed them, "I'm proud to say that my body comes from the Irving brand of training and it'll take a lot more than a couple of direct attacks to get me to flinch!"

"Then how about I place this face down," Kaito chuckled as a set card materialized behind his monsters. "And we'll see if I can't make you flinch."

"Perhaps, but during your end phase I'll play my last face down," Kanji stated as his card lifted up, revealing a goblet filled with pink liquid that had a spell card floating in it. "My Snare Planter can only be activated during your turn, and by sending one continuous spell from my side of the field, I can draw two cards from my deck."

As the Pride of the Weak card disappeared, Kanji plucked two more cards, and then a fourth card from his deck. "Then I'll draw…"

"Damn it, stop replenishing your hand!" Kaito barked with his eyes narrowed down. "It's getting annoying!"

"Well, if you don't like it, then get some draw engines for your deck," Kanji replied offhandedly as he turned around another card from his hand. "First I'll set two cards, then I'll banish Red Duston, Blue Duston, and House Duston from my graveyard!"

Three ghostly images of the declared monsters flew from Kanji's duel disk and collided together as a dark aura surged around them.

"No… Nononononononono," Kaito chuckled with a cold sweat slowly dripping down the side of his head.

"Yes… Yesyesyesyesyesyesyes," Kanji laughed before he slapped the card onto his duel disk. "Arise! Dark Necrofear!"

From the shadows, the infamous, blue demon flew into the air, the shattered remains of the doll cradled in her mannequin-like arms (2200/2800).

"Oh… Hell… YES!" Kaito cheered as he threw his arms up into the air. "I haven't seen that card since I watched the recorded finals from Battle City!"

"She's a pretty hard card to find," Kanji replied with a wag of his finger. "But she's still the Queen of the Fiends – And she's going to attack Green Duston!"

The Dark Necrofears eyes immediately widened as the Green Duston began to panic.

And yet, Kaito had a large smirk on his face, "You said it… Attack. No taking it back now!"

"H-Huh?" Kanji stuttered when his eyes fell to Kaito's face down card. "No! Your face down is it…"

"Covering Fire!" Kaito announced as a powerful golden aura erupted around the Green Duston, making it blink in confustion (0/1000 + 3000/0). "When you attack one of my monsters, I can use this trap to boost your Duston by my King of the Veldt's attack points for this battle!"

The Dark Necrofear fired a pair of yellow beams that zigzagged across the field towards the empowered Green Duston, who in return just charged forward through the beams and rammed the Dark Necrofear right in the head, knocking her from the air and shattering her into millions of shards. (KanLP: 2100)

"Ya see! Thanks to my deck, I can make any monster into a titan!" Kaito laughed loudly with his arms crossed.

"Yes, that is impressive," Kanji replied, nodding with approval. "But did you forget something important?"

"Huh?" Kaito questioned as several ghostly spirits began to dance about the field. "Oh crap!"

"Seems you did," Kanji sighed as he set a card into his duel disk. "After I set this, I'll end my turn…

"And now, DARK POSSESSION!"

The dark spirits screamed loudly before they surged into the mighty King of the Veldt, the fiery mane changing to a bluish flame while the golden body began to transform into a deep, gun-metal black. The large lion snarled in pain as it staggered across the field and onto Kanji's.

The pompadour duelist rubbed his chin at the sight of the monster, "Truth be told, when this beast got on the field, I've been wanting to take it for a test run for a while."

"Yeah, well, I doubt that you'll get long to do so!" Kaito replied as he drew a card from his deck. "Cause now I'll wreck this field control of yours!"

"Oh?" Kanji chuckled with a smirk. "I'm not one to back down from a challenge, so bring it on kid!"

"You're gonna wish you didn't spout those words of yours…" Kaito replied as he lifted the card up from his hand. "Cause now I'm gonna…"

"STOP THIS DUEL RIGHT NOW!"

Kaito slipped and fell face first into the ground, his cards in his hand now on the carpeting, "OH COME ON! I WAS JUST ABOUT TO KICK HIS TAIL!"

Kanji didn't say a word as he turned to the side to see that the Ra Yellow crowd was parting to see a rather young woman dressed in a dark green version of the faculty uniform with a black beret atop of her long blonde hair (which partially obscured part of her right eye). She had her arms folded behind her back and her eyes were narrowed down at Kanji who just smiled. "Well, well, if it isn't the head of campus security – How are you, Miss Valenza?"

Valenza narrowed her eyes even further at the pompadour duelist, "Cut the formalities, Irving. You know the rules here, you can't duel inside the building, so shut his duel down now!"

"Now, now, you can't tell me that you came all the way out here to Ra Yellow just to tell me to stop dueling," Kanji replied with a shrug. "What's the head of security here for?"

"I have no obligation to tell you," Valenza answered. "However, I am under obligation to confiscate your duel disks if you do not shut down this duel immediately…"

"No…"

"Huh?" Valenza questioned as she turned to the red student who just stood up. "Excuse me?"

"This duel is too much fun to just stop!" Kaito roared before he turned back to Kanji. "If we can't duel in here, we'll take it outside!"

"Agreed," Kanji replied with a nod.

Before Valenza could speak a word, both duelists dashed past her, the majority of the Ra Yellow students following suit in order to get outside. Valenza sighed as the last of the students jumped outside, "This is why I hate kids – They're smart-asses…"

Outside the dorm, Kaito's and Kanji's fields rematerialized before them and Kaito lifted his card up, "Now then, before I was so rudely interrupted… I summon Gene Warped War-Wolf!"

The four-armed wolf monster leapt onto the field, snarling loudly as it dug its claws into the ground (2000/100).

"A pretty good monster, but how's he going to turn this duel around?" Kanji asked as he gestured towards the corrupted King of the Veldt. "Cause I've got this big monster right here, and you can't play spell cards from your hand unless you set them for a turn."

"With what I've got planned, I don't need no spell cards!" Kaito replied as he pumped his fist. "I got everything I need to win right here! You see, Master of the Underdog has a secret…

"He's a tuner monster!"

Kanji's eyes widened as the harmonica playing rogue faded into four fiery rings that wrapped around the War-Wolf's body. A powerful flame erupted around the monster and then exploded into a flurry of embers and stars. _"Surviving through sheer force of will, rise up to strike down those who oppress freedom!_

"_Rise from the ashes – Underdog's Champion!"_

From the flames, a familiar face stepped onto the field – The Master of the Underdog. But something was different, his street clothes were gone, and in their place was a black jumpsuit that had light silver armor and a black visor over his eyes. At his back was a sheathed katana that he slowly drew from its sheathe (1000/1000).

"… I can't help but think I've seen this before," Kanji muttered as he scratched the side of his head.

"Just wait and see," Kaito replied as a card popped into his hand. "By simply summoning my Champion, I can send one Normal monster from my deck to the graveyard. So, I'll choose a second King of the Veldt."

Kaito slipped the card into his graveyard slot and pumped his fist towards the corrupted King of the Veldt, "And now Champion! Time to free the king of his corruption! Attack!"

Kanji raised an eyebrow as the armored Underdog dashed across the field, "Free the king? Now you've got me interested… Especially since your monster's weaker, it must have a powerful effect…"

The King of the Veldt card slipped out of Kaito's graveyard and a golden aura erupted over the champion's body (1000/1000 + 3000/0). "You've got no idea! Thanks to my Champion's effect, when he battles an opponent's monster, by banishing a normal monster from my grave, he gains that monster's attack points for that battle!"

Kanji blinked.

And that's when he noticed that the Underdog's Champion skidded to a halt in front of him, his katana slightly unsheathed. The corrupted King of the Veldt turned around slightly and raised its paw up when the Champion clicked his sword into it's sheathe. Several cuts ran up the large lion's body before it shattered into blue flames. (KanLP: 1100)

"And now, Assault Lion!" Kaito roared as he threw his hand forward.

As the large armored beast-warrior lumbered forward, Kanji began to reach for the last card in his hand, but stopped with a smirk on his face. '_Good to see potential this year…'_

The large lion's fist collided with Kanji's body and sent him skidding backwards, his eyes widen from the sheer power that was plowed into him. "URK!" (KanLP: 0)

"YEAH!" Kaito roared as he lifted his hand up for the Underdog's Champion to slap. "And that's how we do it in Osiris Red! Who's the king?!"

Most of the Ra Yellows watching were speechless as the holograms of the monsters and cards faded from the field…

But those who weren't…

"Kanji lost?!"

"He lost to a Red?!"

"But… Kanji, he was able to go toe-to-toe with…"

"THAT'S ENOUGH!"

Every Ra Yellow around winced at Kanji's booming voice, and watched as the large duelist slowly walked over to Kaito, "A duelist isn't measured by his uniform color, but rather by his actions! I may have lost today, but take that lesson to heart! If I could lose to a red duelist, then that means you all have to work harder to make sure that it doesn't happen to you!

"Continue your studies and practices! And don't worry, once my true deck has been completed, I'll be sure to reclaim the glory of Ra Yellow from Kaito Shishio!"

"KANJI! KANJI! KANJI! KANJI!"

After a few minutes of chanting their representative's name, the crowd of Ra Yellows dispersed, which left Kaito and Kanji alone outside in the oncoming night. Kaito smirked, "They really respect ya, don't they?"

"It comes with the territory," Kanji replied with a nod. "After all, I earned my title by beating every single Ra Yellow in my class and the upper class last year – It's only natural that I have their respect. Keep up your level of dueling and you'll earn that same respect, Lion of the East."

"Heh, yeah, yeah," Kaito chuckled before pointed a finger at Kanji. "But don't forget why we dueled each other in the first place! Now you've gotta show me that roster!"

Kanji chuckled as he reached into his jacket and pulled out his PDA, "Of course. Oh, I should also point out something… I lied."

"Huh?" Kaito questioned as Kanji pressed the screen on the PDA a few times.

"Every student has access to the roster," Kanji explained as he flipped his PDA, showing the roster of Ra Yellow students. "It allows duelists to offer challenges to other students by sending them a message. Quite the handy little feature to have."

Kaito's jaw dropped when he heard that and he fell backwards, "WHAT THE HELL!?"

"Now, now, don't be like that," Kanji replied as he flicked through his PDA, trying to find a student with white hair and coke-bottle glasses. "If you had known that, you wouldn't have had a chance to have an awesome duel, correct?"

Kaito pouted to the side and sighed, "Yeah, yeah… Jerk."

After a few moments of flicking through the screen, Kanji nodded and turned his PDA around, displaying a picture on it, "Is this who you were referring to?"

Kaito blinked a few times and then smirked, "Yeah! That's Faust!"

"Hmm, according to this, his legal name is Kenju Shiro," Kanji admitted with a rub of his chin. "What an odd name…"

"Says the guy who's surname is English," Kaito pointed out as he jumped to his feet.

"Touché," Kanji answered with a nod. "But now that we've got his name, I just need to look in the dorm assignments and… Okay, got it. Please follow me, and I'll show you where he is."

With that, Kanji began to walk back towards the Ra Yellow dorm with Kaito quickly following after him. "Oi! Wait up!"

**TTT – TTT **

It didn't take long for the two to reach Faust's room, but it was there that they stopped when they realized that the door to the dorm room was open with a pair of security guards on both sides of the doorway.

"What the?" Kanji questioned as a familiar face stepped from the room. "Miss Valenza! What is the meaning of this!?"

Valenza scowled at the sight of the two duelists. "This has nothing to do with you, Mr. Irving, we are simply searching for Shiro Kenju."

"Alright, then may I ask why?" Kanji questioned as he lowered his gaze slightly.

"Like I said, nothing to do with you," Valenza retorted as she crossed her arms on her trim stomach.

"It does, Campus Security is going after a Ra Yellow!" Kanji barked. '_This isn't good…'_

"Fine, Shiro Kenju is under suspicion of assaulting another student," Valenza sighed loudly. "Happy now?"

"Wait… What?!" Kaito growled.

_TBC_

**TTT – TTT **

**Magitechquipped Warrior Terriger / Earth / LV. 4 / ATK: 1800 / DEF: 1200 / Warrior/Effect:** When this card is Normal Summoned: You can Special Summon 1 Level 4 or lower Normal Monster from your hand in face-up Defense Position.**  
Description:** An armored warrior who's armor is white with black stripes with a golden spiked shoulder pad on his right arm.

_This card is a Japanese card that is in the 2014 Starter Deck._

**Starduston / Dark / LV. 1 / ATK: ? / DEF: ? / Fiend/Effect:** Cannot be Normal Summoned/Set. Must be Special Summoned (from your hand) by sending any number of "Duston" monsters you control to the Graveyard (min. 1), and cannot be Special Summoned by other ways. This card's ATK and DEF are equal to the number of "Duston" monsters sent for its Special Summon x 1000. Your opponent cannot activate Set Spell/Trap Cards, also they cannot Flip or Special Summon monsters. If you control more monster than your opponent does, destroy this card.

**Description:** An extremely large Duston with a star motif with the other Duston floating about it.

_This card will be released in Primal Origin._

**King of the Veldt / Fire / LV. 8 / ATK: 3000 / DEF: 1800 / Beast:** _The embodiment of a hero's courage. He rules the savanna with iron claws._

**Description:** A large golden lion with a mane of flowing flames.

_This card was used by Kaito in YuGiOh! Burning Red! All credit for this card belongs to Scarlet-Weather!_

**Big Red Bull's Eye / Counter Trap / Effect:** When your opponent targets or selects 1 or more cards with a card effect, pay 1000 life points. You may then select the targets for the effect (if the effect is a monster effect, treat it as your own card effect activating).**  
Image:** The Celtic Guard playing darts with a Marauding Captain.

**One Star Defender / Normal Trap / Effect:** When your opponent declares a direct attack, you may activate this card. Special summon one Level 1 monster from your hand in face-up Attack mode. If the special summoned monster is destroyed by your opponent's card (either through battle or by card effect), your opponent's turn moves to the end phase.**  
Image:** Kuriboh with a large shield.

**Snare Planter / Normal Trap / Effect:** This card can only be activated during your opponent's turn. Send 1 face-up Continuous Spell Card you control to the graveyard. Draw 2 cards.**  
Image:** A goblet filled with red liquid that has a spell card floating in it.

**Burning Target Fevor – Inumaru / Fire / LV. 4 / ATK: 1000 / DEF: 1000 / Beast/Effect:** This monster is treated as a Normal monster for the purpose of determining card effects. If your opponent declares an attack while you have two face up Normal monsters on your side of the field, you may discard this card and one other card from your hand to negate the attack and end the Battle Phase.

**Description:** A dog made up complete flames with a black collar around its neck.

**Claws of the Beast King / Normal Trap / Effect:** When a Normal Warrior, Beast, or Beast-Warrior Type monster you control battles an opponent's monster, you may banish this card and one Normal monster from your graveyard. Increase the ATK of your monster by the banished monster's ATK during the Damage Step only.

**Image:** A shadowed lion with its claws glowing a bright silver.

**Underdog's Champion / Fire / LV. 8 / ATK: 1000 / DEF: 1000 / Warrior/Synchro/Effect:** ['Master of the Underdog' + 1 or more non-tuners] This card cannot be special summoned except by Synchro Summon. When this card is successfully special summoned, you may send one Normal Monster from your hand or deck to the graveyard. When this monster battles an opponent's monster, you may banish one Normal monster from your graveyard to increase this card's ATK by the banished monster's ATK during the Damage Step only. **  
Description:** The Master of the Underdog dressed in cybernetic armor, with a visor over his eyes and a katana on his back.

**TTT – TTT **

**Faust: … What? My name's Faust…**

**Kaito: But we learned your name's Shiro…**

**Faust: My. Name. Is. FAUST!**

**Faust: And I got enough troubles on my plate than dealing with you messing up my name…**

_**Next time on Burning Blood Academy Days**_

_**Draw 4 **_

_**Cross Counter**_


End file.
